Pokemon: The Great Victory Tournament
by MasterFreezeman
Summary: Follow Roy Ashford of Olivine City  and Jacob "Freeze" Moore of Snowpoint City  as they compete in a grand tournament, make some friends and rivals, and have a good time. OCs accepted; form inside. Currently on hiatus.
1. First things first

Um, hey there. First time doing this. Saw a bunch of other stories like this and figured I'd make one of my own. I'll have two of my OC ideas in this, so send in your own OC ideas via reviews. Here's the form for OC submission:

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance (stuff like height, weight, hair length/color/style, facial features, etc)

Clothing:

Personality:

Hometown/Region: (must be in the Pokemon world)

History: (what they did in their hometown and elsewhere, be it a Pokemon journey or whatever)

What they think of my OC's:

Pokemon (up to 10): (Please include the Pokemon's nickname (if any), gender, nature, ability, and moves. Pokemon can also have up to 6 moves.)

Battling Style:

So, to get this started, here are the two OC's I'll have in here:

Name: Roy Ashford

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Appearance: 5'11, 190 lbs, dirty-blond curly hair (can be straightened), intense blue eyes.

Clothing: Boston Celtics 2008 NBA Championship hat, Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series t-shirt, blue jacket, denim jeans, silver, red, and white sneakers.

Personality: Laid-back, enjoys just sitting around. Seems lazy and apathetic at first, but proves to be a great friend to everyone.

Hometown/region: Olivine City, Johto.

History: Has been close friends with Olivine City Gym Leader, Jasmine, since 2nd grade. Their standing with each other borders on being a couple, though not quite. Traveled back and forth between Johto and Kanto for a few years to expand his Pokemon collection. Had a run-in with Team Rocket in Kanto one time when they tried to steal his shiny Seadra. Future Champion Red stepped in and saved his Seadra. He promised to repay the favor to Red one day.

What he thinks of my OC's: N/A

Pokemon:

Kingdra (male). Shiny: Yes. Nature: Brave. Ability: Swift Swim. Moves: Dragon Dance, Rain Dance, Waterfall, Outrage, Ice Beam, Hidden Power Electric.

Pidgeot (female). Shiny: No. Nature: Jolly. Ability: Keen Eye. Moves: Aerial Ace, U-Turn, Steel Wing, Heat Wave, Substitute, Roost.

Gengar (female). Shiny: No. Nature: Naughty. Ability: Levitate. Moves: Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Dark Pulse, Fire Punch, Sucker Punch, Attract.

Aggron (male). Shiny: No. Nature: Adamant. Ability: Rock Head. Moves: Earthquake, Double-edge, Iron Tail, ThunderPunch, Aqua Tail, Stone Edge.

Alakazam (male). Shiny: No. Nature: Modest. Ability: Synchronize. Moves: Psychic, Reflect, Recover, Energy Ball, Signal Beam, Calm Mind.

Nidoking (male). Shiny: No. Nature: Rash. Ability: Sheer Force. Moves: Earth Power, Poison Jab, Ice Beam, Horn Drill, Megahorn, Thunderbolt.

Breloom (male). Shiny: No. Nature: Hasty. Ability: Poison Heal. Moves: Focus Punch, Spore, Seed Bomb, Substitute, Stone Edge, ThunderPunch.

Weezing (male). Shiny: No. Nature: Bold. Ability: Levitate. Moves: Sludge Bomb, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Will-o-wisp, Destiny Bond, Explosion.

Umbreon (female). Shiny: No. Nature: Calm. Ability: Synchronize. Moves: Toxic, Protect, Dark Pulse, Confuse Ray, Moonlight, Shadow Ball.

Darmanitan (female). Shiny: No. Nature: Gentle. Ability: Sheer Force. Moves: Flare Blitz, Hammer Arm, Giga Impact, Work Up, Rock Slide, Endure.

Battling Style: Is not afraid to switch when he has to, but would prefer to have his Pokemon tough it out if possible.

Name: Jacob Moore (prefers to go by his nickname, Freeze)

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Appearance: 5'9", 185 lbs, medium-length dark blond hair, crystal-blue eyes (gives off a cold feel), neither bulky nor slim (more of a balance), strong legs.

Clothing: Icy-blue t-shirt, blue hoodie, denim jeans, silver, blue, and white sneakers.  
>Personality: Cold and distant (for the most part), doesn't trust many people, however, is fiercely loyal to his friends.<p>

Hometown/Region: Snowpoint City, Sinnoh.

History: Is known in and around Snowpoint City as somewhat of a myth as he is rarely seen, preferring to spend his days on the frigid peaks of Mount Coronet. Spending so much time on Mt. Coronet should have killed him by now, but he's somehow still alive. He hopes that he will one day meet Articuno, the legendary titan of ice.

Pokemon:

Mamoswine (male). Nickname: Tusk. Ability: Snow Cloak. Moves: Earthquake, Ice Shard, Stone Edge, Stealth Rock, Superpower, Amnesia.

Abomasnow (male). Nickname: Bigfoot. Ability: Snow Warning. Moves: Wood Hammer, Blizzard, Earthquake, Rock Slide.

Glaceon (female). Nickname: Glacier. Ability: Snow Cloak. Moves: Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Hail.

Walrein (male). Nickname: Waldo. Ability: Ice Body. Moves: Blizzard, Substitute, Protect, Surf.

Dewgong (female). Nickname: Iceberg. Ability: Ice Body. Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Tail, Take Down, Hail.

Lapras (female). Nickname: Ferry. Ability: Shell Armor. Moves: Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, Safeguard.

Weavile (male). Nickname: Wily. Ability: Pressure. Moves: Night Slash, Metal Claw, Ice Punch, Screech.

Beartic (male). Nickname: Coca-Cola. Ability: Snow Cloak. Moves: Icicle Crash, Shadow Claw, Slash, Bulk Up.

Vanilluxe (female). Nickname: Cold Stone. Ability: Ice Body. Moves: Acid Armor, Blizzard, Flash Cannon, Hail.

Cloyster (male). Nickname: Spike. Ability: Skill Link. Moves: Spike Cannon, Icicle Crash, Toxic, Spikes.

Battling Style: Takes full advantage of Hail and plays his Pokemon to their individual strengths, Won't hesitate to switch out in the middle of a battle.

Well, those are my OC's. The story will center around Roy, but Freeze will have his own sections here and there. This won't just center around the tournament, though it is the main attraction. I want to actually include out-of-battle sections (for example, Roy and some other OC's hanging out at a Pokemon Center, etc).

If you have any other questions concerning OC submission or whatever else, don't hesitate to leave them in a review. I'll get the prologue going ASAP. I guess I also need to add in the disclaimer.

Obviously, I don't own Pokemon, Nintendo and Game Freak do. I also don't own anything else I end up referencing.

There won't just be OC's in this story, but the bulk of the characters will be.

Updates will occur... rather sporadically, as I have a myriad of other things to do, too. It's gonna be quite the balancing act, that's for sure.

-MasterFreezeman


	2. Prologue Side A

**Author's Note: Well well, I finally get the prologue rolling. The prologue will be split into Side A and Side B with Side A covering Roy's prologue and Side B covering Freeze's prologue. I will warn you now, there will probably be a lot of fourth wall breaking throughout the story. I mean, heck, Roy's attire makes him a walking sledgehammer to the fourth wall, xD. I'm also going to be referencing a ton of other video games and songs, so don't be surprised to see mentions of games like Castlevania or song lyrics scattered throughout the story. I also tend to get very descriptive during prologue things like this, so bear with me. I like painting vivid pictures with my words :P. Well, without further ado, let's get rolling!**

Prologue: Side A (Roy's Prologue)

It was a beautiful summer day in Olivine City, the Johto region's premier port town. Flocks of Wingull flew low over the sea and schools of Remoraid swam peacefully as the bright sun shone overhead. The piers were bustling with activity as a cargo ship had just pulled in to port and was unloading it's stock of goods. Sailors hustled to and fro as they lifted the heavy cargo with the assistance of their Machoke. The streets of midtown Olivine were also busy, as a new statue of Amphy, the Ampharos that lit up the Glitter Lighthouse at night, had just been unveiled. It was impossible to hear anything in midtown now because of all the chatter between the hundreds of people lining the streets.

Over on the beach on the bay running between Olivine and Cianwood City, Krabby were scuttling about as they looked for rocks to hide under for shade. The occasional Staryu would wash up on shore only to be swept back into the sea moments later by the rising tide. And up on a rocky ledge sat a young man wearing a gray t-shirt emblazoned with an image of a trophy as well as multiple logos. In the middle of the shirt were the words "World Series Champions" with "World Series" in white letters and "Champions" in red and larger in size. Underneath that was a blue line and the words "Boston Red Sox". He also wore denim jeans (A/N: on the beach? Crazy dude...), silver, red, and white sneakers (A/N: Yep, not a beach person) and a hat also emblazoned with logos. On the front of the hat, which was white with gold trim on the edges, was a green circle with a white shamrock in the middle of it with the word "Celtics" in white above the shamrock. Above this logo were the words "2008 NBA Champions" - a Boston Celtics championship hat. The rest of the hat was black with gold trim with a picture of the NBA Finals trophy, the NBA Finals logo, and the Adidas logo. Underneath the hat was somewhat curly dirty-blond hair. The brim of the hat was pulled down over the young man's blue eyes, giving the image of him sleeping. A blue jacket was lying next to him (A/N: This dude is on the freakin' beach, why does he have his full gear with him?). On closer inspection, one could see a pair of blue ear buds connected to his iPod, which was gripped in his right hand. The young man started singing the lyrics of the song playing to himself: "'Everything about you resonates happiness. Now I won't settle for less." This young man was Roy Ashford, known around Olivine City as one of the strongest Pokemon Trainers along with the city's Gym Leader, Jasmine. Roy was also known for traveling a lot, especially back and forth between Johto and Kanto. In fact, his Pokemon team was comprised almost entirely of Pokemon he had caught during these trips.

It was approximately 4:30 in the afternoon in Olivine City, so the sun wasn't directly overhead to shine it's blindingly bright rays on the beach. It was at about this time that Roy decided to flip up the brim of his hat so that it was no longer covering his eyes. Now that one could see his eyes, they would be struck by how bright and intense they were. If he wanted to, Roy could make it so it looked like he was staring into your soul, but he was maintaining a gentle look. He stood up on the rocky ledge and stretched out, having had enough of relaxing in that one spot. After grabbing his jacket and taking out his ear buds, wrapping them around his iPod, he made his way off the rocky ledge and onto the sandy beach, pocketing his iPod upon landing on the sand. He gazed out upon the bay as he let the gentle sea breeze wash over him. His jacket rustled a little in the wind. "It's so peaceful out here," Roy thought to himself. He couldn't stand large crowds like the one in midtown today, so he always came to this rocky ledge by the bay to escape. After taking in the sea breeze, he decided to walk back home, figuring the crowd in midtown would have died down by now.

Roy made his way through the streets of Olivine City as he headed towards the northern suburbs. The crowd from the statue unveiling earlier had indeed died down. "Impeccable timing as always," Roy thought. He then made a mental note that he needed to stop by the statue tomorrow just so he could see it for himself. He had just finished taking this mental note when a familiar voice rang out.

"Hey Roy, over here!" came the shout from across the street. Roy snapped out of his mental-note-taking process as looked around, finally laying eyes on the source of the call. The Olivine City Gym Leader, Jasmine, was running across the street with what looked like an envelope in her hands. "Wait up!" she called out. Roy just stood still, allowing Jasmine to catch up with him. When she did, she was out of breath."I ran... all the way from... the gym to... catch up with you," she managed between breaths.

"Sure looks like it," Roy commented. It was a true statement, though, because Jasmine looked thoroughly worn out from running all the way from the gym. The hazel-eyed Gym Leader finally caught her breath and straightened out from her hunched-over position. She was clad in a mint green dress that reached to just above her kneecaps with white frills at the bottom, a small white jacket over her upper body, and a red bow to tie her jacket. Her brown hair reached down to the middle of her back, and the top was tied at the sides so that it looked like wings. She also wore a pair of plain white sandals (A/N: Think HG/SS here).

"Um, now that I've caught my breath here..." Jasmine started, "your mom came by the gym earlier looking for you. She asked me to give this to you."

"Hm, I wonder what it is," Roy replied. Jasmine handed Roy the envelope and he swiftly tore it open. Inside was a small card that read:

"Congratulations! You have been selected as a lucky participant in the Pokemon Great Victory Tournament! Only the best trainers from around the globe have been selected for this grand Pokemon battle tournament!" In smaller print, it read, "See reverse for additional details"

"Hmm..." Roy mused as he read the reverse side of the card. It detailed the dates and times the tournament would take place and disclosed the location as the Indigo Plateau, the location of both the Kanto and Johto Pokemon League. Roy was thinking about simply dismissing this as a hoax when he saw that Lance, the dragon master and Champion of Johto, has taken the time to personally sign the card. This told Roy that the tournament was for real, so he stuffed the card into his pocket. "Thanks Jasmine," he told the Gym Leader.

"Hey, no problem at all," she replied. "Um, would you mind if I walked back with you?" she asked, somewhat out of the blue.

"Sure thing," Roy answered. Roy didn't mind company, but he loved walking with Jasmine. They had met each other when they were in 2nd grade at the lunch table in the cafeteria. Jasmine was always the shy one, so she sat by herself at the table. Roy just asked one day if he could sit with her at lunch and she reluctantly agreed. The two have been the closest of friends ever since. Since that day, Jasmine had slowly began shedding the shell of shyness and opened up to more people. Now, she was one of the happiest people in the city. Granted, she could still be somewhat shy at times, but those days were long past her. "Old habits die hard, though, I guess," Roy thought to himself. He often found himself thinking about how he helped Jasmine overcome her shyness. "She's just so happy now," he thought as he saw a gentle smile creep on to Jasmine's face. He then thought back to the last song that played on his iPod, and as he recalled the lyrics, an image of Jasmine began to form as the lyrics played out in his mind.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Jasmine suddenly snapped Roy out of his reverie.

"Oh, nothing. Just a song I was listening to earlier."

"You were at your spot on the rocky ledge again, weren't you?"

"Yep, sure was. You know I love going there." Roy couldn't hide from Jasmine; she knew every spot in the city where Roy might be.

"I swear, Roy, you're gonna die there," Jasmine joked.

"Ha ha, let's not rush it. I've got plenty of life left before I need to worry about that," was Roy's response. This elicited a small giggle from Jasmine. Roy smiled a bit because he loved to make people laugh with his somewhat dry, sarcastic humor. The conversation died down and Roy returned to being lost in thought. As songs began playing playing in his head, he formed mental images of the people he thought the song best represented. On more than one occasion, he found himself thinking of Jasmine whenever certain songs played in his head. A light blush tinted his cheeks as he thought of her. Jasmine noticed, being the sharp-eyed girl she is.

"Um, Roy, you're blushing," she noted. Roy once again snapped out of his reverie and he tried to stutter out a response.

"Wait wait wait, what?" he exclaimed. Jasmine giggled again.

"Oh you," she started, "You started blushing while you were lost in la-la land there." Roy blushed a bit again, but this time out of embarrassment.

"You gotta be kidding,: he said. "There's no way I'd do that, especially not in public!" Yet another giggle was elicited from Jasmine. At least Roy got the satisfaction of seeing Jasmine laugh.

"I'm not kidding, though. It was light, but I could see you blushing." Jasmine suddenly got a sly look in her eyes. :You weren't thinking about me, were you?" This caused Roy to flinch in complete surprise. Jasmine blushed a bit at what she just said.

"What? No, of course not!" Roy exclaimed, quite shocked that Jasmine had caught on so quickly. Jasmine was having a hard time suppressing her giggling. Roy thought to himself, "Geez, I really taught that girl how to let go, didn't I? I never thought she'd open up so much. Guess I did a good job, then."

"Hee hee hee!" Jasmine was having a hard time talking through her giggling fit. Roy had to turn away before he started laughing with Jasmine (A/N: Yes, laughing is contagious!). "Sorry about that, Roy, but you're a funny guy. And you should've seen the look on your face. Priceless!" Roy was really embarrassed now.

"Ehehehe..." Roy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Ah, that was a good laugh," Jasmine said after finally calming down. "I can always count on you for a good laugh or two! Sp, what about that tournament on the card you got? You gonna go?"

"Oh yeah," was Roy's response as his hands shifted to his pockets. "How could I pass up an opportunity like this? I mean, if Lance is personally signing these cards, then he must really want this tournament to happen."

"Yeah, sure sounds like it. What Pokemon are you planning on using? I saw that it allows you to have up to 10 Pokemon to choose from."

"Well, the only for-sure team members will be Kingdra and Aggron, but I'll decide on the others a bit later. Besides, you know Kingdra was my first ever Pokemon as a Horsea and you gave me the Aron that eventually became Aggron."

"Yep. And you know I'll be rooting for you from the Gym. I wish I could come and watch your battles, but I've got the Gym to worry about."

"It's alright; I'm sure they'll be broadcasting the matches. After all, this IS Lance we're talking about. He does have a flair for the dramatic, so he's gonna want everything televised, including whatever lavish opening ceremony he has planned." Jasmine grinned and stifled a giggle.

"Truer words have never been spoken, haha!" She then noticed they were getting close to the northern suburbs. "We're getting close to your house now, Roy. I have to go back to the Gym 'cuz I have some paperwork to do for the League." Jasmine had a slightly sad tone to her voice

"Ugh, paperwork," Roy commented. "And the League can get pretty uptight about all that paperwork, can't they?" Jasmine nodded in agreement. "Well, I guess this is where we part for the day. Guess I'll see you around tomorrow, then." Roy drew closer to Jasmine as the two embraced. Both Roy and Jasmine felt their hearts skip a beat and blushed a bit. They eventually broke the hug, albeit reluctantly.

"See you tomorrow, Roy!" Jasmine called as she dashed off in the opposite direction back to the Gym.

"See ya!" Roy called back. He then did an about-face and continued on home. On the way back, his mind once again wandered to the songs on his iPod playing in his head again as he formed mental images of people, blushing every time he pictured Jasmine. Snapping himself out of his zone this time, he took the card out of his pocket and read over the details again to make sure he didn't miss anything. He resolved that he was going to be the victor of this tournament, and nobody was going to stop him on his rise to the top, not even Lance. "I'm gonna win this," he told himself. "I'll prove that I'm truly the best, and if I have to take down Lance along the way, I'll do it. Nothing's stopping me now."

**Author's Note: Well, that ends Roy's side of the prologue. Talk about a long prologue, though. I finished this up at around 4:30am my time on June 30th here xP. So, what did you guys think? I know this was a lot of expository stuff, but it's been a damn long time since I've written anything, so I needed to get back into the groove of things. I know Jasmine seems a bit OOC, but I think it works for story purposes, so don't slam me for that (please). Also, bonus points to whoever correctly guesses the name of the song (and the band) to which the lyrics I mentioned Roy was singing to himself are from. That's one reference down, and a gazillion more to go, lol. I personally didn't think I did too bad on this prologue chapter (and I didn't break the fourth wall as much as I thought I would). Don't hesitate to review this; I appreciate all critiques (as long as you don't mindlessly flame). I also still need more OC's, so send them in via review. Next up is Freeze's prologue, which should be a bit shorter than this one. Until then, this is MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	3. Prologue Side B

**Author's Note: Here's Prologue side B. This one will be a little darker than side A because of Freeze's personality. It'll also probably be harder to work in references, and will probably end up much shorter that Side A since there were so many things to go into detail about on side A. Still looking for someone to get the song lyrics reference in side A, and still looking for OC's for the main attraction of this story. The OC's I've received so far are pretty darn good, and I'll definitely find some interesting ways to work them in and make some of them integral parts of the story. So now, enjoy Side B of the prologue.**

Prologue: Side B (Freeze's Prologue)

A chilling wind blew across Snowpoint City, the northernmost point of the Sinnoh region. The city plunged into ceaseless winter always gave off a desolate air as the only people in the city were elite trainers crazy enough to brave the freezing conditions, a few sailors maintaining the docks, a few residents who never left their houses, and the Gym Leader, Candice. There was literally nothing to do in Snowpoint thanks to the conditions. The only attraction was the nearby Lake Acuity, and nobody went there either because it was just too cold.

Up on the peaks of nearby Mount Coronet, powerful wild Pokemon deterred hikers and trainers alike. Blizzards pounded the mountainside almost daily. It was impossible to see more than three feet ahead of you due to the intensity of the snowstorms. Yet sounds other that the cries of wild Pokemon could be heard. A young man was up on the peaks with his Pokemon in a rigorous training session. A muffled voice rang out in the snow: "Mamoswine, Superpower!" The trainer's Mamoswine then charged at a large boulder with power coursing through its body. The boulder smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces once the mammoth Pokemon rammed into it. The trainer then called Mamoswine back, turned to the left, and sent out his Abomasnow, ordering it to use Wood Hammer on another large boulder. The massive Frost Tree Pokemon burst out of its Poke Ball and lashed out at the boulder, shattering it in one well-aimed blow. Satisfied, the trainer recalled Abomasnow. He made his way over to a small shelter he had dug out in the mountainside and entered, scaring out a Golbat trying to make it's home in there. This trainer was known in the Snowpoint City area as "Freeze", real name Jacob Moore. He earned the nickname Freeze for his cold, distant nature and his prolonged stays on Mt. Coronet. Freeze trusted nobody but his Pokemon. He had very few friends, not because there was already nobody in Snowpoint City, but because his cold disposition deterred people just as effectively as a blizzard on the Mt. Coronet peaks. Those who did not shy away from him just because of his nature, however, generally ended up becoming a valued friend. Freeze was almost always clad in icy blue, as if his disposition wasn't enough of a giveaway that he didn't like hanging around other people. He wore an icy-blue t-shirt under a thick blue hoodie, with the hood covering his dark blond hair. He also wore a pair of denim jeans that looked like they were frozen to his rather muscular legs and his trademark pair of silver, blue, and white sneakers. His crystal-blue eyes looked like they could freeze you in place if you stared at them for too long.

Freeze was just beginning to settle down for the evening in his small shelter when the muffled sound of beating wings could be heard. Freeze's ears immediately perked up, having been adjusted so well to the snowy conditions, and he dashed out of the shelter. Once outside, he turned his gaze skyward to see if he could catch a glimpse of whatever was beating it's wings. The heavy blizzard obscured his vision, however, and he only caught a glimpse of what he thought to be a shining blue tail. He gasped when he realized that the bird that had just flown over was probably Articuno, the legendary titan of ice spoken of in legends. Freeze clenched his fists and scowled in disappointment. It was his lifelong dream to meet the legendary Articuno. He believed that meeting Articuno would prove to him that his strength and talents were sufficient. Until then, he would not rest. He was about to return to his shelter when a Delibird flew down from the snowy sky. The Delibird landed on Freeze's shoulder, reached into it's delivery sack, and pulled out a small envelope, handing it to Freeze. He took the envelope and Delibird flew off, saluting before he did so.

Back in the shelter, Freeze had opened the envelope and was reading the card it contained. "Hmm..." he pondered in a rare moment of actually speaking out loud, "some kind of big Pokemon battle tournament, eh? Sounds like it could be a good test of my prowess as a trainer. Perhaps this is the final hurdle to finally meeting Articuno..." He flipped over the card and read the details of the tournament. It was set to take place at the Indigo Plateau between the Johto and Kanto regions. He would need time to prepare for that. He noticed that the card was signed by the Johto Pokemon League Champion, Lance. "All the more reason to go, then,: Freeze thought. "If the Johto Champion is sending these out, then he must be inviting only the strongest trainers. This will be the final test. I can prove to myself that I have the skills to meet Articuno at long last..." Freeze began imagining Articuno in all its glory gracefully gliding through the sky, when a sudden rumbling sound interrupted his thoughts. "Dammit, what's going on now?" he thought. He took a peek outside his shelter and looked up. It was an avalanche! Freeze's normally cold, distant disposition dissipated in an instant as he went into escape mode. He grabbed what he could from the shelter and made a break for it before the avalanche could swallow him up. After running for what seemed like ages, he came to a ledge that was out of the avalanche's path. Quickly leaping to the ledge, Freeze nearly lost his footing, but managed to regain balance before the avalanche could catch up to sweep him away. Once the avalanche passed by, he breathed a rare sigh of relief. He pulled out the card he had stuffed into his pocket, and promised himself that this would be the ultimate test of his skill besides possibly Articuno itself.

The next day, Freeze was sneaking around town in an attempt to reach his house without being detected. Somehow, he was successful, for Snowpoint City didn't have a lot of places one could hide themselves other than the temple, which was off-limits. Once in his house, Freeze started grabbing the things he would need for a trip to Johto and turned on the news. Nothing interesting ever happened around Snowpoint, so he didn't know why he bothered ever turning on the news. Today was much the same. He shut the TV off in a matter of just minutes and began packing. He knew there was a ship leaving the Snowpoint dock for Johto in a few hours, so he needed to hurry. He threw together some clothes and other necessities in just a few minutes, and was set to go in just under half an hour. He knew he wasn't going to enjoy the ship ride to Johto because people would probably be gawking at him the whole time, especially if they knew of the stories that circulated around Snowpoint of him living up on the harsh, frigid peaks of Mt. Coronet, but it was the only way he would be able to get to Johto since he didn't have a flying Pokemon. In fact, all of his Pokemon shared the Ice-type, much like the Snowpoint City Gym's specialty. This was another step he believed would lead him closer to his goal of meeting Articuno. He made his way to the dock and purchased his ticket. The sailor recognized him, but didn't say a word. Freeze boarded and waited for departure. As he boarded, he swore that he would meet Articuno after all was said and done. Nothing could stop him from achieving his dream.

**Author's Note: And that's a wrap! Much shorter than side A, yes? There certainly wasn't as much to write about for this side of the prologue, that's for sure. And hey, it's also home to the first instance of bad language in the story. Freeze is probably going to be using strong language much more often than Roy or user-submitted OC's. So go ahead and review this if you'd like, despite it being much shorter than I anticipated. And remember, I STILL NEED YOUR OC'S FOR THE STORY [/capslock]. I've only had four submitted so far, and while they are good submissions, I still need more. Also, still waiting for someone to get the song lyrics reference I made in Prologue Side A. Come on, I know you can do it! That's that for now. Leave a review with your thoughts on the prologue and anything you'd like to point out; I really appreciate getting feedback. Until then, this is MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	4. Freeze's Arrival

Chapter 1: Freeze's Arrival

A ship cruised into port at the new dock at the infamous Indigo Plateau. The home of the dragon master Lance and his Elite Four served as a link between Kanto and Johto. Being situated in the middle of the two regions, the area just outside the Elite Four's domain had slowly been turned into a major hub for trainers to get together and battle. The hub area, naturally busy thanks to it's location, was even busier than usual now because of the sheer number of trainers pouring in for the Great Victory Tournament, named for the long and harrowing Victory Road all trainers had to traverse before reaching the Elite Four.

As the ship pulled into port, a pair of crystal-blue eyes stared in the direction of the stadium where the tournament was to take place. Freeze stood on the deck and seemingly stared off into space, but he was actually focusing for the upcoming tournament. The ship's captain announced their arrival at that moment: "Attention passengers, we have arrived at the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub. Please make your way to the exit ramp and wait until the ship has fully pulled into port to disembark". As Freeze made his way towards the exit ramp, he found himself constantly buffeted by people rushing to disembark. :Ugh, looks like I'm not going anywhere fast," he thought to himself. He decided to wait until the gaggle of people racing the the exit ramp died down. The ship was quite large, so Freeze knew he was going to be waiting for a while. Freeze began to zone out a little bit as he visualized the scene on Mt. Coronet where he thought he saw Articuno's tail through the blizzard. As he finished playing back the scene in his mind, someone hurtled around a corner shouting, "Out of the way! I can't stop myself!" Freeze began turning around while muttering, "Dammit, what now?" He turned just in time to see a young woman dressed in a red t-shirt with a black hoodie over it, camo pants, black and silver sneakers, and a gray, blue, and black trucker cap come dashing right his way with no intention of stopping.

"Whoa! Move aside or you're gonna get whacked!" the girl shouted as she closed in on Freeze. Freeze barely had time to react after he turned around.

"What the... ah, hell," he cursed just before the girl collided with him.

"Oof!" they both yelped as they went flying. They landed hard on the floor, knocking the air out of them.

"Ow, my aching head..." the girl complained as she got back up. Freeze picked himself up off the floor without a word. He wiped off the dust that had been kicked up onto his blue hoodie and turned back around as if nothing had happened, leaving the girl somewhat confused. "Hey, where are you going?" the girl asked. Freeze turned his head slightly.

"I'm getting off the ship." Freeze said in a monotone voice. He clearly wasn't interested in socializing. But the girl persisted.

"Well, the least you could do is stick around for a couple of seconds and let me apologize for running into you," the girl replied. Her voice was a balance of soft and powerful, with the power suiting her look quite well.

"Whatever. I just want to get off the damn ship. I've been on here since Sinnoh," Freeze said. Since leaving the Snowpoint City dock, the ship had stopped in Slateport City in the Hoenn region and Castelia City in the Unova region to pick up more passengers. Freeze was not fond of long voyages as it only meant long hours of boredom without being able to train his prized Ice-type Pokemon.

"Yikes, that's a long trip," the girl said in reply. "Must have been awfully boring".

"You don't know the half of it," Freeze grumbled. It was clear he was annoyed by the recent happenings on top of being stuck on the ship for a few days.

"I'll bet. Sure doesn't sound very entertaining," the girl replied. "I'm Aidan Gallow, by the way. And you are?"

"Just call me Freeze," the blue-clad Ice Pokemon trainer said.

"Just Freeze, hm?" Aidan responded. "You got a real name?"

"Yes, but I would prefer to be called by my nickname," Freeze replied, showing no emotion whatsoever. His cold eyes maintained a steady gaze as he looked directly at Aidan, fully expecting her to shy away from his cold stare. He was quite surprised when she didn't. "You aren't showing fear. It appears you are tougher than I thought. My gaze can strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest of men".

"Pah, that didn't faze me at all," Aidan scoffed. "Come on, tough guy, that all you got?"

"My gaze is generally all I need, but no, that isn't all I can do," Freeze replied coldly. "Believe me, you would not want me to unleash all I can do, for you would regret it later".

"Oh please. You seriously believe what you're saying? Well, OK. Suit yourself, Frosty".

"Your wit is as sharp as a butter knife. And, Frosty? What am I, a giant cuddly snowman?"

"Not so sure about giant and cuddly, but definitely a snowman, hehe!"

"I tire of your humor. I will be disembarking now. I suggest you do the same before the ship pulls back out of port with you on it." With that, Freeze did a 180 and walked towards the exit ramp, leaving Aidan to catch up. Aidan wasn't done questioning Freeze, though, so she broke into a dash again and caught up just by the exit ramp.

"Hey, just wait a minute. You know it's rude to just leave someone hanging, right?"

'Never bothered me in the past. Why should it now?"

"Jeez, you're a tough nut to crack. But hey, the tougher the nut is to crack, the better!" Aidan chuckled and slapped Freeze on the back, which he ignored.

"I have things to be doing, so if you would kindly run along and leave me to do what I need," Freeze began, but was interrupted.

"You ain't gonna get rid of me that easily, bub," Aidan teased and gave Freeze a sly wink of mischief. She was gonna break down Freeze's icy barrier even if it was the last thing she did. Freeze was beginning to become annoyed at Aidan's persistence.

"You are becoming irksome. I suggest you leave with haste before I decide to do something about it," Freeze threatened.

"Well, come at me, then!" Aidan taunted.

"Very well, I will. Wily, stand by!" Freeze tossed a Poke Ball into the air, and a Weavile burst out. The small Sharp Claw Pokemon took a battle stance. "I see you take one more step in my direction and Wily here will mutilate you until you're nothing but a mangled corpse of rotting flesh. Wily's cruelty is second only to my own." Weavile snarled in approval.

"Oh please, I've been threatened with things worse than death before. What's a little ol' Weavile gonna do to me?"

"Wily, Night Slash!" Weavile suddenly dashed forward and swiped at Aidan, who swiftly dodged the incoming attack.

"OK, now I'm starting to get annoyed with you. You think you're so high and mighty and so cut off from everyone else that you can just do what you want with abandon. Well, I'm sick of it, and I am gonna BREAK. YOU. DOWN. I know there's a much warmer heat underneath that barrier of ice, and I'm gonna find it."

"That's a laugh. Then again, I don't know the last time I laughed. You think you can break through my impregnable defenses? Then come on and show me what you've got!" In a rare moment of not being cold in disposition, Freeze's temper began to flare as his motives were questioned. "You have no idea of what I aim for; how could you even try to break through a solid wall of ice? Even if you did manage to break through, I doubt you would find anything underneath it." This froze Aidan in place, stunned at what she was hearing, but convincing her all the more that there was indeed a much warmer heart trapped behind the cold exterior Freeze normally showed.

" You know, I think I just broke through your 'impregnable defenses'. That little flare of temper was enough to tell me that. You probably wouldn't be such a bad guy if you didn't have that cold exterior. Now, while I do like toughness, this is just going too far. You need to lighten up! Cutting yourself off from others won't get you anywhere! That not toughness, that's denial that you're weak!" At that, Freeze felt a nerve pop.

"You would DARE to call me WEAK? Unacceptable! Weakness will not be tolerated. I must be strong in order to meet the legendary titan of ice, Articuno".

"So THAT'S your goal. Well, an admirable goal it is, but legendaries are Pokemon, too. They don't respond well to cold, cruel trainers who want to meet then just for personal gain. I can see why you use a Weavile. It's naturally cruel and cunning, and it's an Ice-type. So it was a natural pick for your team. But I'm sure it and your other Pokemon don't deserve the cold treatment. Just judging by the way you commanded your Weavile, that's the feeling I get." She shook her head. "You've got it all wrong, Freeze. While your goals are admirable, your ways of meeting them will end up destroying everything you value, even your Pokemon. They might even turn on you someday, sick of how you treat them. I don't want that to happen to you. I know I only just met you, but it just doesn't feel right to have you so cold and distant from everything." Her hazel and gold eyes brimmed with determination, and yet fear at the same time. Freeze, having calmed down from his outburst, proceeded to speak.

"Why would you care for someone like me? I have no care in the world for who gets hurt by my actions".

"You ought to care. Think about it. If Articuno were to show up out of nowhere today and judged you unworthy of being in its presence because of what you just said? Wouldn't everything you've worked for come to naught? You probably thought this tournament would prove that you were strong enough to meet Articuno. Well, that may or may not be true, but if you truly don't care for you, your Pokemon, and other people, then how in the world will Articuno accept you? Think about that for a moment". Freeze just stood there in stunned silence. This stranger he had just met on the ship had just torn apart everything he stood for. He was shattered now. Aidan's persistence had paid off, and Freeze's 'impregnable defenses' were no more. He fell to his knees as he stared skyward. Words failed him as he tried to find a reply. Was this really the fruit of his years of training on Mt. Coronet? Was he doomed to fail? Aidan's voice suddenly snapped him back to reality. She lowered herself to ground-level and began speaking more softly. "Y'see? I know what I'm talking about. Some of my friends used to be like that, albeit not as bad as you, but I got through to them eventually. That's why I broke through that icy wall around your heart." She straightened back up, drawing herself to her full height. She was 5'6" and had jet-black hair that reached to her mid back. Her tan skin and athletic frame and build perfectly complemented each other. Freeze just didn't know what to say as he felt his world come crashing down around him.

"I just... I... don't know what to say anymore," he stuttered. He stared up at Aidan, his crystal-blue eyes having completely lost their icy feel and now giving off a much more calm aura, almost like clear water.

"You don't need to say anything. I know you're grappling with this now." Aidan's hazel and gold eyes met with Freeze's crystal-blue ones. Aidan felt her heart skip a beat as she stared into the perplexing pools that were Freeze's eyes. "Wait, what the hell?" she thought to herself. "What gives? I just tore this guy to shreds, so what is this I'm feeling? Is it... sympathy? No, it wouldn't have made me shudder like that. I'll worry about it later."

"Something the matter?" Freeze asked in a much warmer tone that even he wasn't used to hearing.

"Oh, no, it's nothing," Aidan replied. "Come on, it's getting late and we need to register for the tournament. The registration center in nearby, so we can just walk to it; no need for running."

"I suppose. I would like to get in to the tournament before they cut off registration," Freeze responded. He pulled himself back up to full height and stretched out. He glanced over at Aidan, signaling for her to come. Aidan nodded and walked over to Freeze. Freeze hadn't noticed before because he was too busy being cold, but Aidan's eyes gave off a perplexing aura of both toughness and kindness, something Freeze wasn't very familiar with. He dismissed the thought as they began to walk towards the registration center. "She intrigues me," he thought to himself. "It was purely coincidence that we met on the ship, and yet... I just don't get it. I'm confused. I guess I'll let her stick around. Who knows, maybe I'll learn a few things about her." He glanced at Aidan again, who was walking at a fairly even pace with him. She was pretty tough-looking with the camo pants and trucker cap on. Despite her clothing looking masculine, Freeze could still tell she was a girl thanks to her well-developed body and her athletic build. A very faint blush tinged Freeze's cheeks.

"So, now that that's all said and done, I think we need to re-introduce ourselves on better terms. I'm Aidan Gallow from Rustboro City in Hoenn. And you are?"

"Well, I suppose you have the right to know my real name now," Freeze said. "Name's Jacob Moore, but I prefer Freeze 'cuz of the legends that circulate around the Sinnoh region. I'm from Snowpoint City".

"Snowpoint, eh? I've heard only the best of the best even think about going up to Snowpoint".

"Yep. Nobody wants to be caught in one of the famous Snowpoint blizzards, which are all too common".

"Yeesh, you'd freeze to death out there, it sounds like. Of course, I'm crazy enough that I'd make the trek to Snowpoint anyway, haha! Which I've already done, by the way". She flashed the Icicle Badge. Whether or not Freeze was impressed, Aidan couldn't tell.

"No offense, but yeah, that's pretty crazy. Of course, I'm crazier 'cuz I lived on Mt. Coronet for the past five years". Aidan gasped.

"No way in heaven or hell! How do you live up on a frigid mountain for five years?"

"Build a really good shelter and remember: location, location, location. Only problems I had were a few Golbat trying to hole up in my shelter, so I chased them out with Wily, my trusty Weavile you saw". He had returned Weavile before setting off for the registration center.

"Fun," Aidan replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Oh yeah, and the day I decided to come down to get ready for this tournament, an avalanche nearly buried me alive".

"Sounds like a ton of fun, having to run from killer avalanches while chasing Golbat out of your shelter and all that jazz". Aidan's voice continued to drip with sarcasm.

"Thrilling, yes. Fun... I'll get back to you on that," Freeze deadpanned.

"Haha, I believe you said something along the lines of 'Your wit is as sharp as a butter knife' earlier?"

"Touche..."

"I'll warn you now, if you don't like super sarcastic humor and the occasional pun, stay away, hehe," Aidan laughed.

"I think I'll live. I already owe the pun jar a couple grand," was Freeze's reply.

"Heh, you should see hoe much I owe the pun jar. Especially with my family around. They're just so easy to make puns with".

"Your house must be a zoo, no offense".

"None taken. I'm pretty much the zookeeper. Everyone in my family is pretty crazy, myself included".

"I can tell. Breaking me down back there was the craziest move I've ever seen someone make. You've got guts".

"Heh, I assure you, my Pokemon take after me, too. It's like my family all over again, except in Pokemon form and I actually don't mind that. Things get a little _too_ crazy at home sometimes".

"They say that Pokemon take on the personality of their trainers, so don't be surprised if my Pokemon are cold and calculating like before you broke me down. And I think I'd die of going insane if I lived with your family. Just saying..."

"Ha, I thought you'd gone insane from the years of solitude with nothing but your Pokemon, no offense".

"None taken. Snowpoint's Gym Leader, Candice, has taken to at least sending a Delibird to me every so often just to make sure I _don't_ go insane".

"You must be pretty famous around Snowpoint if the Gym Leader is checking up on you".

"Yeah. I'm something of a legend around Sinnoh as the guy who went up into the mountains just because and survived up there for five years. Some people think I'm an illusion. I'm used to hearing that, though. I can use this tournament to prove that the Snowpoint Legend is true. That ought to dispel any doubt in the minds of those who didn't think it to be true. It's time to make a name for myself, and what better place to start than here at a tournament hosted by Lance the Dragon Master?"

"I guess now's as good a time as any. I'm here to just have some fun battling tough opponents. I like to let it all hang out. I pretty much never have a plan when I battle. Sometimes, but most of the time I don't. Either way, I don't care if I get knocked out, I just want to experience how tough the trainers here are so I can get better for whatever's next, especially if I end up facing my brother Rory".

"Hm. I did a lot of training while up on Mt. Coronet. This here tournament will see if my training has paid off. And if I get to meet Articuno sometime in the near future, then I can die happy. You say you have a brother? I'm an only child, and my dad ran off when I was five. Said it was to go into hiding. My mom is never around; she's too busy working odd jobs so she can pay rent. If I win this tournament, then the prize money will more than completely buy the house; we'll have enough left over to last through at least my lifetime:.

"Sounds like it's pretty rough at home for you. I just left home 'cuz I was going insane with my family constantly bugging out about everything. I mean, I know I'm crazy, but at least I can control it:.

"Mm..." Freeze mumbled in response. "You know, I think now that I see the error of my ways of the past, you and I could be great friends". Aidan felt a sincere grin plastered on her face at those words, signifying a mission complete for her.

"Hey, that's great to hear. I get the feeling you'd be a great friend. Just as long as you don't get _too _friendly, 'cuz then I'll have to knock you out, ya hear?" Aidan cracked her knuckles.

"Oh please, what do you take me for, a desperate bastard who hangs around the bars? Gimme a break..."

"OK, where do you want it?" Aidan said with mock violence and complete sarcasm.

"Ha ha, very funny. Ho ho, it is to laugh." Freeze's voice dripped with as much sarcasm as Aidan's.

"Come on, bozo, we need to go register for the tournament. You don't want to miss out, do you?"

"No, and last I recall, I wasn't a clown, either".

"Oh yeah, you and I are gonna get along just fine". No trace of sarcasm could be detected this time.

"I guess. I'm just not very good at this whole 'being a friend' thing".

"You'll manage". They set off for the registration center (A/N: 'Bout damn time, too) as the sun began to set. Freeze finally pulled the hood of his hoodie off his head and revealed his dark blond hair. At the angle the sun was at, it gave off a mystical quality in the light. Freeze's overall look in the evening sun felt very ethereal, like he were some deity of ice descended from the mountains. The breeze ruffled his hair a little. Aidan took in this sight and did a slight double-take. Even though she had only just met Freeze, she found him to be quite intriguing. Now, with the sun at the perfect angle in the sky and Freeze finally with his hood down, it was more than just intrigue that drew Aidan to Freeze. For a guy who had spent five years up in the snowy mountains of Sinnoh, he looked like frostbite had never affected him and looked just as healthy as someone who lived normally. Aidan really admired toughness and hardy people who could withstand a variety of things, but Freeze was more than just tough and hardy; he was a living legend. Not to mention, he looked good in blue and wasn't like every other guy who knew they looked good. Aidan dismissed the thoughts of the guys back in Rustboro City as she continued towards the registration center, a faint blush tinging her face. "Come on, snap out of it,: she thought to herself. "Gotta focus for the tournament". Freeze had gotten a little ways ahead of her.

"Come on, I thought you wanted to register for the tourney. What a Slowpoke..."

"Hey! I'll make you pay for that one!" Aidan suddenly dashed directly at Freeze who simply sidestepped before contact could be made.

"Now you'll have to do better than that, won't you?" Freeze teased.

"Grr, I'll get you for this," Aidan growled. "I should warn you, you don't want to piss me off. I have the force of a rampaging Gyarados when I'm pissed".

"Yet I fear nothing".

"I assure you, you'll learn to fear me of you piss me off. More than a few people have already learned the hard way". Freeze just chuckled and started towards the registration center again, Aidan in pursuit in an attempt to keep up.

Up in the rafters of a nearby warehouse, a shadow sneaked across one of the beams and materialized. It was a mischievous Gengar, spying on the two trainers running past in order to get to the registration center. The Gengar's trainer stepped out of the shadows and returned the ghost Pokemon, shaking his head in amusement. "Young love..." Gengar's Poke Ball rattled around as it chuckled to itself. He began to lose himself in thought as he too made his way to the registration center, thinking of a certain hazel-eyed beauty back at home.

**Author's Note: And there's the first proper chapter! As you can see, I introduced one of the user-submitted OC's in this chapter, Aidan Gallow. Thanks to The Darkness Is Alive for submitting her. I know I probably wrote her out of character, but honestly, I'm just winging it at the moment. I certainly didn't count on making Freeze break down so early in the story :P. We also have a winner for guessing the song lyrics reference I made back in Prologue Side A. Congrats to unicorn2010 for correctly guessing the song I referenced: Bliss by Muse (who, by the way, are the best band ever). Bliss is currently my favorite Muse song. So, leave a review with your comments, thoughts, and whatever else, including OC's, which I still need more of. And, if you're American like me, happy 4th of July! Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	5. Roy's Arrival

**Author's Note: The beginning of this chapter takes place before the events of Chapter 1. Also, there will be a reference to a Final Fantasy song and a very obvious meme somewhere in this chapter. See if you can spot them.**

Chapter 2: Roy's Arrival

It was the break of dawn in Olivine City. Nobody was awake yet save for the city's best trainers, Roy and Jasmine. Roy was making his final preparations for the tournament as he was set to leave in half an hour. Oddly enough, there were no ships running from Olivine to the Indigo Plateau that day, but that didn't matter to Roy; he could just fly in on his Pidgeot. Roy had fit everything he could into a large backpack and was just about ready to leave when a soft knocking could be heard at his door. Roy almost tripped over a stray book (A/N: Yes, people, he reads!), but regained his footing quickly. He opened the front door and saw Jasmine standing on his doorstep.

"Hey Jasmine. Come to see me off, have you?" Roy inquired.

"Yep," Jasmine replied. She quickly stepped inside as the morning air was still somewhat brisk, shutting the door behind her. "It's still kinda chilly out there".

"Well, it is only 6 in the morning, so I'm not surprised. I'll be leaving in about half an hour. I want to make sure I'm there at a good time so I can see what the new trainer hub has to offer".

"I see. So, uh, you decided what Pokemon you're gonna use yet?"

"Yep, but I'm not gonna spoil them. Besides, the matches are all being televised, so you'll get to see them".

"Oh. Well, that means I'll have even more to look forward to, then". Jasmine gave Roy one of her infamous gentle smiles. Roy couldn't help but smile back. They continued to talk for the next half hour about the upcoming tournament. When the time came, Roy got off the couch and headed outside with Jasmine right behind him.

"Well, I'd better get going if I'm gonna make it to Indigo Plateau. It's at least a two-hour flight on Pidgeot's back, but she's more than capable of just a two-hour one-way flight". He called Pidgeot out of her Poke Ball. The majestic bird Pokemon landed next to Roy and spread her wings to stretch them out.

"I'll try to find an opening in my schedule so I can come watch your battles in person. Watching you battle is like watching a really well-scripted movie or play," Jasmine complimented.

"Aw, shucks, don't mention it,: Roy replied, embarrassed and rubbing the back of his head. "Just don't let all that paperwork get to you while you're still at the Gym".

"Ugh, don't remind me," Jasmine rolled her eyes at the thought of all the paperwork sitting on her desk. She then started doing some strange twirl as she ranted, "If the league keeps up with all this paperwork, I'm gonna go insane!"

"I guess you could say that you're going..." Roy started as he put on his sunglasses, "dancing mad!" Somewhere across the street, a loud "YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" could be heard as someone blasted Won't Get Fooled Again. Jasmine just stared at Roy, clearly not impressed.

"I swear, those bad one-liners of yours are gonna get you knocked out cold one of these days." Jasmine said with no trace of amusement in her voice.

"And I'll just get right back up like nothing ever happened," Roy joked as he took off the sunglasses.. Jasmine just shook her head and changed the subject.

"Hey, don't forget to call every so often. Some of us do get concerned about you, you know," Jasmine said.

"Yeah yeah, I'll be sure to call in every once in a while. Don't want a certain someone yelling my ear off". Roy gave Jasmine a light nudge in the side.

"Hey, you know I don't yell at you".

"I know; I'm only messing around". Roy grinned, earning him an elbow to the side from Jasmine, albeit a light one.

"Oh, shut up". Jasmine rolled her eyes jokingly, earning a chuckle from Roy. Pidgeot just ruffled her feathers as she waited for her trainer to climb on board.

"Looks like Pidgeot's getting impatient. I'd better get going". Roy started towards Pidgeot, who arched her back so Roy could climb on. Before he could, however, he felt Jasmine's hand take hold of his, causing him to stop. "Hm? What's up?" Before he could say another word, Jasmine gave him a soft but firm kiss, completely catching him off guard. He began blushing madly. He didn't know what to do, but something about it all just felt so right. Jasmine broke the kiss and turned away embarrassed.

"I... I don't know what I was thinking..." Jasmine stuttered, but was interrupted by Roy's firm hand on her shoulder.

"No. You were thinking clearly. I can see it in your eyes." Roy pulled Jasmine towards him and kissed her back. It was now Jasmine's turn to blush madly. She recovered quickly, however, and returned the kiss. It was broken off, however, when Pidgeot chirped in annoyance at being kept waiting.

"Dammit, Pidgeot, I was enjoying a moment of bliss, why'd you have to go and chirp?" Roy said with a hint of annoyance at Pidgeot. Jasmine's heart skipped a beat when Roy said 'moment of bliss'. All the bird Pokemon did was chirp back, signaling that it was sick of waiting and wanted to get this flight over with. "All right, all right, I get it, you're sick of waiting. Jeez, you're impatient..." Roy clambered onto the back of Pidgeot who ruffled her feathers as if to say "about time". Roy then turned to Jasmine. "Sorry about Pidgeot there. You know she can get quite impatient".

"Oh, it's quite alright. I'm used to Pidgeot's impatience by now. Good luck in the tournament, Roy. I'll see if I can come watch a few of your battles if I get time off," Jasmine replied. Roy leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"You just stay safe. I gotta fly now, so stand back". Jasmine stood back as Pidgeot spread her magnificent wings and took off. "I'll give you a call once I get to Indigo Plateau," Roy said just as Pidgeot gained enough momentum to get into the air. Roy put his sunglasses back on and turned his head skyward.

"Be safe there," Jasmine called back. Pidgeot suddenly beat its wings and soared into the skies. In a matter of seconds, Roy and Pidgeot were nothing more than silhouettes on the horizon as the sun began to rise. Jasmine held a hand to her heart and felt it racing. Without another word, she turned around and walked back to the Gym, all the while thinking about Roy.

Up in the air, Roy couldn't stop thinking about Jasmine. He closed his eyes to regain composure, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not stop focusing on Jasmine and that kiss they had just shared. Pidgeot chirped to inquire as to Roy's thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, yeah". Having had Pidgeot for years, Roy could tell what Pidgeot wanted to know every time she chirped to inquire. Pidgeot also knew whenever something was on Roy's mind. "You know what's on my mind, Pidgeot. Heck, you were right there". Pidgeot gave a soft chirp and decided not to inquire any further, leaving Roy to his thoughts as they soared through the morning sky.

/

The wind was blowing gently at the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub. Trainers lined the streets as they made sure they had fully prepared for the upcoming tournament. It was noisy as trainers chatted to other trainers and occasionally a random bystander who had complimented their Pokemon. On the horizon, a large bird and it's trainer were headed in the direction of the Battle Hub at top speed. The trainer lifted his sunglasses a bit to get a look at the surroundings, then put them back down and told the bird to start landing. It began to descend, feathers gleaming in the sunlight. The bird, a Pidgeot, landed outside the gate to the hub. Roy Ashford had arrived. He called Pidgeot back into her Poke Ball and proceeded through the gate. On the other side of the gate, Roy was greeted by the sound of thousands of trainers talking and preparing for the tournament. Roy was already disliking the noise and went to find a quieter section of the hub. He tried everywhere from the docks to the park to just waiting around in the Pokemon Center, but everywhere he went, the noise persisted. Roy finally decided to hide out in a warehouse at the docks as the noise wasn't quite as bad in there. Upon entering the warehouse, Roy pulled out a Poke Ball and sent out a purple ghost with blood red eyes and a mischievous grin, a Gengar. Gengar chuckled mischievously as the ghost awaited orders from her trainer.

"Gengar, I want you to hide up in the rafters and see if anything is going on. Alert me if there's something I need to know," Roy ordered. Gengar nodded and disappeared into the shadows. Roy went and hid behind a stack of crates. He pulled out his iPod and kicked back, rocking out to some songs, and thinking about other things prompted by other songs. For the next few hours, Roy would be behind the stack of crates while Gengar observed the surrounding area from the shadows. Roy was beginning to get bored when Gengar emerged from the shadows and pointed outside. Roy took out his ear buds as Gengar retreated back into the shadows. Going up to the corner of the door, Roy peered around the corner and saw two people about his age. They both wore hoodies, one with a blue hoodie and the other with a black hoodie. Roy couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but could tell it wasn't pleasant. The one in the blue hoodie had called out a Weavile and seemed to be shouting something. Roy still couldn't tell what was being said, but figured that whatever the person in the black hoodie had said hit a nerve. Roy continued to try to listen in, but still couldn't hear a word. He instead focused on their actions. The one in the blue hoodie seemed to be acting very defensive in response to the words from the one in the black hoodie. Roy noticed then that the one in the blue hoodie was a guy and the one in the black hoodie was a girl. Roy decided to tune out the noise again and looked up into the rafters to see Gengar laughing to herself. Roy dismissed it as Gengar just having another laugh over something. He poked his head back around the corner to see that the arguing between the two people had stopped and they were headed his way. Quickly, Roy ducked behind the stack of crates he was hiding behind before and waited for the two to pass by. The guy seemed to be in a decidedly better mood at this point and was teasing the girl about being a Slowpoke. Roy could hear what they were saying now thanks to them being so close to the warehouse, so he caught most of the conversation. He looked up to the rafters to see if he could catch where Gengar was, but she had disappeared into the shadows again. The two trainers (Roy assumed they both were since they were at the Battle Hub) ran off towards the Pokemon Center where registration was about to open. Once they were out of earshot, Roy came out of hiding from behind the crates as he saw Gengar materialize from the shadows. He pulled out Gengar's Poke Ball and returned the ghost. He then shook his head in amusement at the two trainers running off into the distance.

"Young love..." Roy chuckled to himself. He felt Gengar's Poke Ball rattle around as Gengar also chuckled. Roy's mind drifted back to Jasmine at that point. "Psh, who am I to talk?" he corrected himself as he too set off to the Pokemon Center to register for the tournament all the while thinking about the hazel-eyed beauty back at home in Olivine City.

**Author's Note: And that's Chapter 2 down now. Another slow-to-develop chapter, too. I promise I'll get to the action soon, but these kinds of chapters are necessary, too. So, it seems the guy from the previous chapter eavesdropping on Freeze and Aidan was none other than Roy himself. The sneaky bugger... wait a sec, since I wrote it like that, does that make me a sneaky bugger, too? Ah well, I'll live with it. So, like I mentioned at the start, there's a reference to a Final Fantasy song and a very obvious meme in this chapter. They're not too hard to spot, but they might catch a few people out if you're not looking in the right place. Keep sending in your OC's, I'm gonna need plenty of 'em. Leave a review with any comments, thoughts, critiques, or whatever else, just don't mindlessly flame. Until next chapter, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**

**P.S. How the hell do you pronounce Pidgeot? I've heard Pi-jee-oht, Pi-juht, and Pi-jee-uht.**


	6. Registration  Main Gang

Chapter 3: Registration, and the Main Gang meets

The main Pokemon Center at the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub was busy as trainers queued for tournament registration. Nurse Joy was running herself ragged between healing trainers' Pokemon and registering them for the tournament. It was starting to get late and the queue was beginning to die down, much to Nurse Joy's relief. It was at this time that two more trainers entered the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy frowned to herself, thinking, "More participants... They just never stop pouring in!" The two trainers, both sporting hoodies, took their spot at the back of the line. It was then that yet another trainer stepped through the automatic doors. Joy thought, "Just when I thought they were dying down, another wave shows up. Can't I get a break here?" As the trainers continued registering, Joy felt her eyelids grow heavy. Her Chansey noticed and brought her a Gatorade. Joy took a sip and returned to registering trainers. The two hooded trainers were next in line.

"Name, please?" Joy asked the first trainer, who sported a black hoodie.

"Aidan Gallow". Aidan waited while Joy hit a few keys on her keyboard. The monitor then showed Aidan's face.

"Aidan Gallow, Rustboro City in Hoenn..." Joy listed off the details shown on the monitor. Aidan nodded an affirmative. Joy tapped a few more keys and a card popped out of the machine right next to the monitor. "Here's your Tournament Pass and hotel room designation. Your registration was successful. You'll register your Pokemon after the opening ceremony tomorrow".

"Thanks". She turned to the boy behind her clad in a blue hoodie. "Hey, Freeze, I'll be waiting over there". She pointed out a table close by.

"All right, then," Freeze replied. He then stepped forward to register.

"Name, please?" Nurse Joy sounded insanely tired.

"Jacob Moore".

"Let's see here... Jacob 'Freeze' Moore, Snowpoint City in Sinnoh..." Joy listed details as Freeze nodded. More tapping of keys was heard. Another card popped out of the machine. "Here's your Tournament Pass and hotel room designation. Pokemon registration will be tomorrow after the opening ceremony". Freeze took the pass and key wordlessly and went to join Aidan at the table. The next trainer stepped up.

"Name?" The repetition was testing Joy's patience.

"Roy Ashford". More typing.

"Roy Ashford... Olivine City in Johto..." Joy tapped some keys and out popped Roy's Tournament Pass. "Your Tournament Pass and hotel room designation. Pokemon registration is tomorrow after the opening ceremony".

"Thanks. You know, you ought to take a break; you look beat".

"Yeah, I am beat, but my replacement hasn't showed up yet, so here I am," Joy replied. She turned back to the monitor and Roy walked away, looking for an empty table. He found one right at the back corner. After sitting down, he pulled out his trusty iPod and relaxed, attempting to tune out the noise of the other trainers in the Pokemon Center. He pulled the brim of his hat down so that people wouldn't disturb him. He had only been chilling in the corner for about ten minutes when he felt something tap him on the shoulder. He paused the song playing and took out his ear buds. Flipping up the brim of his hat, he looked up to see the source of the tapping. It was a girl of approximately 17 years of age. She had wavy, elbow length strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes as deep as the ocean. She wore a skintight long-sleeved red v-neck shirt (with the sleeves covering most of her hands), a black camisole, dark denim skinny jeans, and black ankle boots. She sported a rather large pair of cherry-red DJ headphones. Her skin was fair and she had a line-shaped scar on her shoulder.

"May I help you?" Roy asked.

"Hate to be a bother, but would you mind if I sat at this table with you?" the girl asked in response.

"Eh, sure, just don't bother me too much. I'm kinda trying to chill," Roy replied. "Name's Roy, by the way. Roy Ashford. I'm from Olivine City". He extended his hand to the girl and she gave a firm handshake.

"I'm Lexi Redstone. I'm from Nuvema Town in Unova".

"Nuvema, eh? Never been to Nuvema, but I've been to the Unova region once or twice. Caught a couple of Pokemon while I was there. I do a lot of traveling, mind you. I've been all over the place".

"Lucky. I rarely go outside of the Unova region. Maybe it's 'cuz it's so far out of the way compared to the other regions. Either way, it's always nice to take a break from the usual surroundings in Unova. I just took a trip around Johto, actually. Really nice change of pace. You're from Olivine, right? What's it like living there?"

"I enjoy it. It's generally pretty quiet unless there's a ship rolling into port or some event downtown. Nobody ever goes on the beach 'cuz it's just a small stretch of sand and a bunch of rocks. I hang out on the rocky ledges sometimes. It's a nice escape for when it's too busy in town. I really hate crowds and noise".

"I can tell; I mean, you're sitting in the back corner of the room with your iPod on full blast and your hat over your eyes".

"Heh, yeah, it is kinda easy to tell. But yeah, life's good. I have nothing to complain about except when it gets too noisy. I'm pretty laid back about everything, so nothing really fazes me, other than noise".

"Just gotta have it quiet, eh? You ought to get some noise-canceling headphones. Works a lot better than those little ear buds".

"Probably, but I can manage with just the ear buds. I always manage to find places to chill and relax away from all the ruckus. Stick around and you might learn a few things". This earned a small chuckle from Lexi.

"Haha, I'll bet you've taught quite a few people quite a few things about your methods of relaxation. Hey, where'd they give you your hotel room?" Roy pulled out his hotel room's card key at that.

"Uh..." he said while scanning the card, "Grand Dragon. Knowing where we are, that's probably the most luxurious. I mean, this IS Lance the Dragon Master we're talking about".

"Grand Dragon? Cool! That happens to be where I'm staying, too". Lexi brought out her card key, which was the same color as Roy's. Grand Dragon Hotel card keys were all gold.

"Ah. I see". Roy then noticed two two trainers with hoodies on, Freeze and Aidan. They seemed to be isolated from the rest of the tables based on position. "Hey, why don't we go see what those two are up to?" he suggested. Lexi looked over to Freeze and Aidan, then back to Roy.

"Why not? No harm in that," she replied. She and Roy got up from the table and made their way over to the two hoodie-clad trainers. Once there, Roy tapped the blue-hoodie-clad trainer's shoulder. He looked up with a look of disinterest.

"Can I do anything for you?" he asked with a slightly cold tone.

"Yeah, just wondering if you wouldn't mind the two of us sitting with the two of you". Roy moved his head slightly to point to Lexi. The blue-hoodie-clad trainer turned to the girl he was sitting with with one eyebrow raised as if to ask, "Should we?"

"Oh come on, it's not gonna kill you," she replied. Turning to Roy and Lexi, she said, "Come on, he'll be fine. He just doesn't like socializing, is all". Roy and Lexi pulled up some chairs and sat down. "So, who are you two?"

"Name's Roy Ashford. I'm from Olivine City in Johto".

"And I'm Lexi Redstone. I'm from Nuvema Town in Unova".

"Aidan Gallow. I'm from Rustboro City in Hoenn". She turned to the last person at the table who was tuning out the conversation. "Well, you gonna introduce yourself or what?" Reluctantly, the guy lifted his head off of the table.

"Name's Freeze. I don't care to tell people my real name. I'm from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh". Freeze put his head back down on the table as he tuned out the conversation again.

"Don't mind him, He'll come around eventually," Aidan said. She rolled her eyes at Freeze. "So anyways, where are you two staying?"

"We're both staying at Grand Dragon," Lexi answered. "Sounds really luxurious".

"Grand Dragon, hm? Lemme see here..." Aidan rummaged around her pocket and pulled out her hotel card key. "Oh hey, wouldn't you know? I'm in Grand Dragon, too!"

"Awesome! What about Mr. Ice Cold over here?" Lexi nodded towards Freeze, who appeared to be sleeping.

"One sec, gotta get his attention". Aidan slugged Freeze in the arm, but got no reaction. She punched harder.

"Do you mind?" came Freeze's response. "I'm trying to chill here".

:You can chill later. Where are you staying?"

"One moment, gotta find the card..." Freeze dug around in his pocket. "Nope, that's my phone, not that I ever use it... Here it is... Grand Dragon, same as the rest of you. Not that it really matters; I'm gonna be out most of the time". Freeze put the card back in his pocket and yawned. "I'm tired. Think I'm gonna head to the hotel now". Freeze got up and started towards the door. Aidan got up too and jogged over to Freeze.

"Hey, wait up! We're all in the same hotel". Freeze just shrugged.

"Whatever. I just want to get a decent shower for once and take a nap".

"OK then". Aidan then turned to Roy and Lexi. "Hey, come on, we're heading to the hotel".

"Alright then. I was just thinking about checking in and settling down for the evening. I need to make a few calls, so I figure I should get settled in," Roy said. He then pulled out his phone. "Portable vid-phone. Pretty cool, huh? I can hook it up to a computer or a TV, too". (A/N: No iPhones, Blackberries, or whatever in the Pokemon world.)

"Oh wow, that's neat," both Aidan and Lexi gasped.

"Yep. It's pretty handy. Well, let's head on over to Grand Dragon. Wonder what the rooms are like". With that, Roy started towards Grand Dragon Hotel. Lexi followed as they caught up with Freeze and Aidan.

It was a short walk from the Pokemon Center to Grand Dragon Hotel. Situated close to the center of the Battle Hub, Grand Dragon was easily the most luxurious of the hotels, comparable to the grandest of hotels in the world. The gang checked in at the front desk and got directions to their rooms, which were all on the same floor. They went to the elevator after thanking the clerk for the directions and Roy punched the button for the 7th floor. The elevator brought them up in a flash.

"Well, that was fast," Roy commented.

"That's what she said". Freeze attempted to say something humorous, but all he earned were a few sideways glances.

"Humor really isn't your thing, eh?" Lexi remarked. Freeze just shrugged.

"Yeah, dude, that was really bad, no offense," Roy said. They all took out their card keys and looked for their room numbers.

"Huh, what do you know, we're all in consecutive rooms," Aidan commented.

"Not bad," Lexi replied. They turned right after exiting the elevator and headed for their rooms. As it turned out, they were right at the end of the hallway.

"OK, let's see... room 792 for me," said Roy.

"793 for me," Lexi replied.

"794 here," Freeze said.

"And I'm in 795," Aidan finished. "Well, let's head on in, shall we?"

"Yep," Lexi replied. All four of them entered their rooms, and an audible gasp resonated. The rooms were absolutely grand! Everything looked like it was made of pure gold, from the bed to the TV to the shower to the floor. The rooms, while fairly normal in size, were the grandest in design. The silence from the four trainers was proof enough.

"Wow, now THIS is what I call a hotel room!" Roy exclaimed.

"You kidding me? I LOVE this already!" came Lexi's reply.

"I will admit, this is impressive," Freeze remarked.

"Can't say I've ever seen something so grand in my life," Aidan remarked.

"Well, I'm gonna drop my stuff, make some calls, then grab a bite to eat,: Roy said to the gang, "Don't you be eavesdropping on my calls now, you hear?"

"We got ya," Lexi replied. She turned to Freeze and Aidan. "You guys wanna join me? I'm gonna go get something to eat here in a minute; just need to drop my stuff and get a shower".

"Sure thing, Lex," Aidan replied. "What about you, Freezer burn?" Lexi giggled a little at that.

"Where do you come up with these nicknames? They're horrible," Freeze commented. "I guess I could join you two; I am getting hungry".

"So it's settled then. There's a place to eat just across the street from the hotel, so we'll go there since it's close. Roy, you're free to join us whenever you're done with your calls".

"Gotcha. I won't be too long; I'm starving".

"Haha, well, we'll see you there, then". Lexi entered her room to drop her stuff and go take a shower. Aidan went into her room to relax for a bit. Once they closed their doors, Freeze shrugged.

"Meh, I dunno what to do to pass the time. As far as I know, girls take an age in the shower". Roy chuckled.

"Heh, that they do, my friend. Well, I'm gonna go make those calls now. Why not see what's on TV?"

"'Cuz there's never anything good on".

"Good point. Well, just hang loose. Lexi should be done before you know it. I'll catch you in a bit". With that, Roy entered his room to hook up his video phone to the TV. Freeze just shrugged again. He stole one last glance at Aidan's room before silently entering his own. "What is it with that girl?" he thought to himself. "What does she see in me?"

**Author's Note: And that's a wrap for Chapter 3! Took me long enough _ But hey, at least I got it done. This chapter introduced another user-submitted OC: Lexi Redstone, submitted by ColaVixen Inc. She'll be a major character in this story. The next chapter will sort of kick off the tournament with the opening ceremony. So yeah, a lot of non-action thus far; I promise you, the action is on its way, don't worry! As always, leave a review with your thoughts and comments on this chapter. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to keep writing; I love getting feedback. Keep on sending in OC's too. The more OC's sent in, the more material I have to work with and the more chapters get done. With that, until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	7. Let The Games Begin!

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait on this chapter; I was on vacation and couldn't do anything even remotely related to this story. This chapter will pick up right where the previous one left off.**

Chapter 4: Let the Games Begin!

Roy shut the door to his hotel room and pulled a few cables out of his backpack. Connecting one end to his portable video phone, he pressed a button on the top of the video phone as he connected the other end of the cable to the TV. He then grabbed the TV remote and turned the power on. He flipped through the channels until he found one with a blue screen, signaling that the video phone was hooked up to that channel.

"Right, so that's channel 43 that the vid-phone hooked up to..." Roy thought as he took that as a mental note. "Now to see if it works..." He pressed a few buttons on the vid-phone and powered it on. The TV screen then went black as the vid-phone started up. After a few seconds, the word "LOADING..." flashed on screen. Roy grinned and flung himself on his bed. Once the loading screen disappeared, it was replaced by a list of contacts. Roy pressed the down arrow on the vid-phone a few times until he got to his mom. He hit the call button as he waited for his mom to pick up her end. He whistled a little tune to himself as he waited. Suddenly, the screen flickered to life as Roy's mom, Kate, appeared. Kate had her brown hair tied in a ponytail. She appeared to have been doing yard work as flecks of dirt could be seen on her face.

"Hey sweetie," Kate greeted her son. Roy grimaced a bit.

"Mom, you know I hate being called 'sweetie' and all that other stuff," Roy replied.

"Well, you know how I am; never quite able to keep up with how fast you grow up, just like every other mom," Kate said. Roy chuckled a little.

"Don't I know it. So, everything cool at home?"

"Yep. I'm honestly quite used to having the house to myself for long periods of time since you and your father are never home. I still don't know where he went off to. Anyway, how are you doing? All settled in now?"

"Sorta. I'm meeting some friends I just made here for dinner in about 20 minutes or so. Figured I'd hook up the ol' vid-phone and drop you a line while I had the chance".

"Oh ok. I guess you've already got everything planned out. Just like you to do so, too. Well, ok, I'll let you go then. I'm sure you've got some planning to do for the tournament".

"Yeah, deciding what Pokemon to use is gonna be difficult. I gotta make sure I've got all my bases covered".

"Don't worry, son, I'm sure you'll do just fine. After all, you are my son". Kate was a serious trainer when she was younger, and had obtained all the Johto and Kanto Gym Badges.

"Too true," Roy replied with a chuckle. "Well, alright then, I guess I'd better get some planning done and go eat some food; I'm starving. See ya, mom".

"Bye son. Be safe; you know I worry about you all the time".

"I know, mom. I gotta go now, so see ya". Roy hung up as soon as his mom acknowledged. He started whistling another tune as he scrolled through his contacts once again, finally finding the one person he really wanted to call: Jasmine. He pressed the call button and waited for Jasmine to pick up her end. It took a while, but she eventually did, although it was audio only at first.

"Olivine City Pokemon Gym. Leader Jasmine speaking" came the soft but firm voice.

"Hey Jaz, turn on the video, it's Roy," Roy said. On the other end, Jasmine gasped. Button-pressing was heard as she tried to find the video button. She finally did and her face appeared on Roy's end of the phone.

"Ah, Roy, you surprised me!" Jasmine exclaimed. "I figured you were gonna call later, so I was doing some work for the League. Good thing I just finished, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty good timing there," Roy replied. "So, how's everything?"

"Pretty good. Pretty slow around here 'cuz nobody ever seems to challenge the gym. I'm considering asking the League for a week or two off given the rate of challengers being close to zero. Honestly, I don't see why the League works us so hard during dead periods," Jasmine grumbled.

"What else is new? It's the Johto League, what do we expect?" Roy rolled his eyes as he mentioned the League.

"Yeah, tell me all about it," Jasmine replied sarcastically. "I swear, all the Gym Leaders have the workload of an Elite Four member. I'm going insane 'cuz of it... and don't do another one of those one-liners. I know you too well to allow that again," Jasmine teased.

"Well damn, there goes what I was gonna say," Roy joked. Jasmine raised her eyebrows and stuck out her tongue. They both laughed. A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. "One sec, Jaz, let me check who that is." Roy took a peek through the eye-hole on the door and saw Freeze standing outside. Roy opened the door. "Sup dude? Need something?"

"Mind if I hang out in here while I wait? There's honestly nothing to do in my room," Freeze said.

"Sure thing". Roy opened the door more and let Freeze in, who shut the door behind him. Roy then went back to his bed and flung himself on it again. Freeze took a seat on a nearby chair. Roy was first to speak as he turned back to the TV screen to talk to Jasmine again. "So, Jaz, I'd like you to meet a new friend of mine. He calls himself Freeze. Don't know his real name, though."

"Hi Freeze. Nice to meet you," Jasmine replied. Freeze just nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Not the talkative type, are you?" Jasmine giggled a bit. Freeze shrugged, indicating he wasn't bothered.

"Yeah, he doesn't talk very often, and it's always no more than a few words when he does speak," Roy said.

"Right, I see," was Jasmine's reply. "You look like you'd get along well with him, Roy".

"I guess. I mean, we only just met at the Pokemon Center".

"Ah. So, going over your battle plans yet?"

"Not yet; I gotta get something to eat first. Once I'm all settled in, I'll make the necessary preparations for the tournament."

"Ok, cool. Really looking forward to watching your battles. Hopefully the League will grant my request for some leave so I can come watch you battle".

"Yeah, good luck with the League there," Roy chuckled.

"Yeah, you know I'll need it," Jasmine replied, rolling her eyes at the mention of the League. "Good luck in your battles. Now go get something to eat; I can tell you're starving". This earned a laugh from Roy.

"Haha, nothing slips past you, eh?" he chortled. Freeze let off a small snort of amusement.

"Nope. Now go eat. Not that I'm in a rush or anything, but you really look like you could use some food".

"All right, all right, I'll go get some food, then. You take it easy now, Jaz. Don't want you to overwork yourself at the Gym". Roy smiled as he said this.

"Yeah, I hear you. Don't you go overthinking your strategies, now. I think I remember what happened the last time you did".

"Don't remind me..." Roy sighed. "Well, I'm gonna go get that food now. Talk to you later, Jaz". Roy gave one of his trademark grins and touched two fingers to his right temple, proceeding to salute. Jasmine did the same and hung up. Freeze then got up from his seat.

"So, Roy, I didn't know you knew the Olivine City Gym Leader," Freeze said with a hint of being impressed.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it, dude. Why, just this morning, before I flew here, she mustered up the courage to kiss me. I hate to brag, but you gotta admit, I got some serious game to get with a Gym Leader".

"I will admit, that does take some kind of skill," Freeze replied. "I wonder if that skill translates over to the battlefield, too. You look like you'd be a great opponent. I'm looking forward to possibly facing you in the tournament". At this, Roy smirked.

"You bet my skill translates well to the battlefield. Something tells me you're a damn good trainer yourself. I'd love to have a match with you in the tournament". He held out his hand and Freeze grasped it in a very firm handshake. "Something tells me that this is the start of something big. I'll definitely be seeing you on the battlefield," Roy finished.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Battling serves to make us all stronger, and in order to achieve my goal, I must be as strong as I can possibly be. One day, I will meet the legendary titan of ice, Articuno. Until that day comes, however, I must continue to get stronger. Legendary Pokemon only appear before those who they deem strong and worthy. I think you'll be the perfect test of my strength. Something tells me that you're just that good," Freeze stated.

"Don't want to brag, but I am pretty darn good. Guess I'll get to see firsthand how good you are. You look tough. I like that in a trainer. I can't wait for the tournament now," Roy replied. A knock at the door interrupted them and they could hear Lexi's voice from the other side of it.

"Hey, we're heading over to the restaurant now. Join us when you're ready," Lexi said.

"On my way. I just finished with my calls and Freeze is waiting in here with me," Roy replied.

"Ok then," Lexi said. The door opened and Roy and Freeze came out.

"Let's go, shall we?" he said to the group. Everyone nodded and they made their way to the restaurant across the street from the hotel. The short walk was uneventful, as was the time in the restaurant, though the food served was very high-quality. After their meal, the four trainers made their way back to the hotel to prepare their battle strategies and get some sleep, for the next day, the tournament began at last. In their rooms, Roy, Lexi, Freeze, and Aidan all thought of which Pokemon to bring into the tournament. It was late when they all finished deciding, so they shut off the lights and attempted to sleep, the anticipation for the tournament making it difficult to do so.

/

The sun rose bright and early the next morning. Roy's alarm woke him promptly at 6:30 and he began getting ready for the opening ceremony which was to take place at 10:00. Roy always woke early so as to prepare for everything the day could throw at him. In today's case, he still had a few last decisions to make for his Pokemon team, so after showering and getting a bite to eat from the hotel's breakfast service, he flipped open a notebook and began to narrow down the choices for the last few Pokemon to be entered. He hummed a tune as he did so, as was his usual habit. He finalized his choices at about 9:15. He then glanced up at the clock on the wall and thought to himself "Time to get going to the stadium. Gotta be there with plenty of time". He got up, got his gear together, and made his way to the stadium. Along the way, he bumped into Lexi, who was lost looking for the stadium.

"Hey Lexi, you look lost. Looking for the stadium?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, my sense of direction isn't the greatest, and being in a new place doesn't really help." Lexi replied.

"Well, follow me; I know where to go," Roy offered.

"I think I'll take you up on that, haha," Lexi chuckled. "Don't want to go getting lost again, no sir".

"Haha, well, we'd better hurry; the ceremony starts in under an hour".

"Yeah, let's get going". Roy and Lexi started heading eastward, in the direction of the stadium. When they got there, they had to fight their way through a sea of people who had come to watch the tournament.

"I certainly expected a crowd, but nothing as large as this," Lexi stated.

"Well, this IS hosted by Lance the Dragon Master, so of course there would be a really big crowd. Lance has always had a flair for the dramatic and enjoyed large crowds," Roy explained.

"I see... Well, let's get into the area we're supposed to be in". Lexi spotted the participants' entrance, so she and Roy headed over their. They flashed their passes to the security guard to gain access. Making their way through the tunnel, they began to think of the exciting matchups they were going to face. Anticipation made the two trainers shudder as they steeled themselves for battle. They emerged onto the battlefield where all the other participants had gathered. The stadium had been decorated with all manner of fancy décor. The most prominent color seemed to be gold, which, Roy thought, was quite typical of Lance. They spotted Freeze and Aidan in the middle of the crowd of trainers. Fighting through the sea of competitors, Roy and Lexi reached them. Freeze seemed focused on something while Aidan tried to get his attention.

"Freeze, come on, you've been like this all day. I mean, ok, I get that you're psyched for the tournament, but snap out of this daze already!" Aidan sounded quite frustrated.

"Something up?" Lexi asked.

"Yeah, Freezerburn here has been ignoring everyone all day. It's as if he's completely zoned out," Aidan responded.

"Sounds like he's a bit too focused if you ask me," Roy chipped in. He approached Freeze. "Hey dude, calm down a bit. You're too focused on this thing. Relax". No response from Freeze.

:It's no good, Roy; let him be," Aidan said.

"Whatever," was Roy's reply. He then went back to standing by Lexi and Aidan as he too waited for the opening ceremony to kick off. Time passed, and just as his patience was growing thin, the Champion of Johto himself, Lance the Dragon Master, stepped up to the large podium in the center of the stadium. Lance cleared his throat in order to get the crowd to silence themselves before delivering his opening address.

"Greetings, trainers and fans alike. I need no introduction. As you are all aware, or so I should hope, the toughest trainers in the world have gathered here to participate in the Great Victory Tournament, so named for the harsh and harrowing Victory Road all trainers must traverse in order to reach the Pokemon League. The battles fought in this stadium over the course of the tournament promise to be full of exciting twists sure to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. For the trainers, these battles will test their strength, willpower, knowledge, and push them to their very limits as they fight on". Lance's red and black cape fluttered in the breeze as he spoke. "Those who do not have the will to fight will not proceed far. Our will as trainers is what allows us to keep battling to make us stronger. It drives us to seek out new opportunity and strength to fulfill our goals and dreams. That willpower will surely be put to the test here. Remember trainers, never let your will waver. As long as you maintain your will, you can prevail in even the most dire situation. With that said, I, Lance the Dragon Master, declare the Great Victory Tournament... OPEN!" Lance spread his arms wide as his three Dragonite flew overhead, causing a large gust of wind to whip through the stadium. One of the Dragonites used Fire Blast as it passed over a large torch at the top of the stadium, lighting it instantly and officially making the tournament begin. The crowd went wild with applause as the trainers returned to the tunnels to the preparation areas. In the North Sector of the stadium, Roy, Lexi, Freeze, and Aidan all took their Pokemon to register for the tournament. Roy was finishing his registration when Lexi informed him that the first round matchups were to be announced in ten minutes. Roy thanked Lexi for the information and finished registering his Pokemon. A confirmation message flashed up on the monitor once he was done. He nodded and left the registration station for the waiting room. When he got there, Freeze was staring intently at the screen closest to him as he awaited the matchups. Roy approached him.

"Hey dude, psyched for the matchups?" Roy asked.

:You bet I am," Freeze replied. "I'm just itching to get into battle and show what the Legend of Snowpoint can do. I'll tell you why the call me the Legend of Snowpoint later. Right now, I'm so focused on the matchups that I'm gonna burst if I have to wait much longer".

"Hey, don't go losing on me now. You and I need to have a battle in this tournament. I'm gonna hold you to that," Roy said, a pure tone of challenge filling his voice. Freeze smirked.

"I plan on upholding that, no need to worry. The Legend of Snowpoint never refuses a challenge".

"Good. See you on the battlefield at some point". With that, Roy turned his attention to the screen as the matchups drew ever closer to revelation. The announcement sent shivers down the spines of all the trainers as their anticipation worked to the limits. "Attention trainers: the matchups are decided. Please check the monitors in the waiting rooms and the tunnels," a feminine voice rang out over the loudspeakers. Freeze and Roy turned their attention to the monitor as they scanned for their pictures. Roy almost jumped when he saw he had been picked for the first battle of the tournament. Next to his picture was a picture of a guy with short, spiky, bleached hair and red eyes that looked like they could burn you to cinders of you stared for too long. Roy took in his opponent's appearance and concluded that this was not going to be an easy fight. He turned to Freeze, who had seen Roy's matchup.

"Good luck out there," was all Freeze said before he turned back to the monitor and continued searching for his picture. Roy got up from his seat as the female public address announcer gave the announcement for the match 1 participants to make their way to the battlefield.

"This is it," Roy thought. "The tournament is finally underway, and I'm kicking things off. Mom... Dad... and Jasmine... I will not fail you..."

**Author's Note: At long last, the tournament is about to get underway with the first match of the first round. Roy will be facing another user-submitted OC, whose name will not be revealed just yet. You'll have to wait until the next chapter for that. Finally, we're getting to the action! I also apologize again for the long wait for this chapter; I was on vacation and had no access to the internet. So, leave a review with your thoughts, comments, and criticism (no mindless flaming, though; I have zero tolerance for that). More OC's are always welcome; this is one big tournament, so the more OC's I have to work with, the better. So, next time, the tournament truly begins! Until then, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**

**Fun Fact: In this chapter, whenever I wrote that Roy was humming a tune, I was listening to a tune at that point, too. In order, those tunes are: Zeromus Battle (Final Fantasy IV), Departure (Mega Man Zero 2), and Flash in the Dark (Mega Man 9).**

**P.S.: Since nobody got the Final Fantasy song reference and obvious meme reference I made in Chapter 2, I'll reveal it here: the song was Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI, and the meme was the CSI:Miami opening one-liner meme (quite popular in YouTube comments). Both references were made when Roy initiated the one-liner and finished it with a reference to the song Dancing Mad after Jasmine ranted about the Pokemon League overworking her.**


	8. To Battle!

Chapter 5: To Battle!

"Ladies and gentlemen, round one of the Great Victory Tournament is about to get underway!" a male public address announcer said, causing the crowd at the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub Stadium to go absolutely wild. "The trainers have taken their places in the tunnels, so now it's time to introduce the battlers competing in the first match!" More cheering from the crowd made it extremely hard to hear anything. TV cameras swiveled towards the north tunnel as the announcer prepared to introduce the trainers.

"In the green corner, hailing from Olivine City in Johto, is a traveler and collector of some renown. He has earned the eight badges of the Kanto region from the many times he has traveled there to expand his collection of Pokemon. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Roy Ashford!" As Roy stepped forth from the north tunnel, the crowd went insane. Roy looked up at the crowd, never thinking he'd ever have so many people cheering for him. He took his place at the green side of the battlefield and waited.

"In the red corner, hailing from Vermillion City in Kanto, is a young man who has been taking the world by storm recently, having participated in all five Pokemon Leagues and placed high in all of them. They call him 'Fire Eyes' for his red eyes that blaze with passion on the battlefield. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Damon Klutch!" A figure started moving out of the south tunnel. As he stepped into the light, his appearance was made apparent. Roy already knew of his facial features from the picture on the matchup board; Damon had short, spiky, bleached hair, and his eyes blazed red. Roy figured they were probably contacts since people don't normally have red eyes. Damon wore a black shirt with a red jacket on over it, as well as denim jeans with holes in them, apparently from wild Pokemon attacks, and black Nike sneakers. His eyes alone were enough to tell people that he was an exceptional trainer. A referee then stepped forward and beckoned the trainers to the center of the battlefield. Both trainers complied.

"Trainers, introduce yourselves and shake hands," the referee told them. Roy extended his hand first.

"Roy Ashford, Olivine City. I'm looking forward to a great match," Roy said as Damon extended his hand and shook Roy's.

"Damon Klutch, Vermillion City. I've got a feeling this is gonna be good," Damon replied. The trainers broke the handshake and returned to their respective sides. The referee then stepped back and raised his flags.

"Ok, then, allow me to explain the rules. Six Pokemon will be allowed during the fight even though you registered ten. You may switch out whenever you feel it is necessary. No repeat Pokemon and no duplicate held items. Sleep Clause and Freeze Clause are in effect. If both trainers are ready, then we will begin".

"Ready," both Roy and Damon said.

"Very well then," the referee replied. He raised his flags over his head. "Begin!"

"Umbreon, go!" Roy yelled as he threw out a Poke Ball. The ball burst open and out came the small black Pokemon, its gold rings glowing in eagerness to fight.

"Go get 'em, Zebstrika!" Damon shouted as he threw out his Poke Ball. It opened and out burst a zebra-like Pokemon with electricity crackling around it's body. It stomped on the ground, ready to fight.

"Umbreon vs. Zebstrika," the referee announced. "Begin!"

"All right, Zebstrika, let's get things started with a bang! Use Thunder!" Damon commanded. Zebstrika crackled with even more electricity. Once it coalesced, Zebstrika shot it into the sky. A massive bolt of lightning shot down at Umbreon. Roy didn't look fazed it the least, however.

"Umbreon, Protect!" Roy ordered. Umbreon looked up at the lightning bolt produced by Zebstrika's Thunder attack and formed a protective shield around itself. The lightning bolt struck the shield and Umbreon emerged from the attack unharmed.

"What a wild start! Zebstrika launches a powerful Thunder attack, but Umbreon's defense is just too much!" The announcer yelled into his microphone to TV audiences everywhere.

"All right, Umbreon, now let's turn the tables. Use Toxic!" Roy told the small black Pokemon. Umbreon's rings glowed as it launched a pool of poison at Zebstrika.

"Dodge it and use Flame Charge!" Damon shouted. Zebstrika jumped over the toxic pool and charged at Umbreon, coated in flames.

"Stop it in its tracks with Shadow Ball!" Roy ordered. A dark blob formed in Umbreon's mouth. Umbreon launched it and the resulting collision with the charging Zebstrika resulted in a stalemate. Roy kept a close eye on the Shadow Ball in case there was movement. Just then, he caught the slightest movement; the Shadow Ball was getting pushed back. Roy narrowed his eyes as Zebstrika pushed forward. Just as Zebstrika pushed the Shadow Ball back, Roy shouted a move. "Protect!" Umbreon formed the protective shield again. The reflected Shadow Ball fizzled against the shield and Zebstrika was turned away when it's Flame Charge failed to scratch the shield.

"Argh... this guy's got good defenses," Damon thought. "No matter, I'll just keep on pushing until I break through." He ordered Zebstrika to attack again, but this time, he switched things up a little. "Zebstrika, shoot a Thunder Wave at it, then use Flame Charge!" Electricity shot from Zebstrika's head as fire began coating it's body. Damon grinned as Zebstrika charged again. "No way he'll be able to protect himself from this," he thought. Just then, Zebstrika stopped charging and the flames died down as it struggled to move. "Wait, what happened?" Damon said.

"That was Umbreon's special ability: Synchronize. If it gets afflicted by a status condition from an opponent, then it inflicts the same status condition on the opponent unless it resists the condition. Because you shot a Thunder Wave at Umbreon, I decided not to use Protect this time because Synchronize would activate and paralyze Zebstrika as well. Now, we're back to square one," Roy explained.

"An amazing turn of events! Neither Pokemon has taken any direct damage, but we've already seen an incredible exchange of moves! Folks, this is shaping up to be a great battle!" the announcer exclaimed.

"Geez, this guy really knows what he's doing in terms of defense," Damon thought. He was getting slightly frustrated, and his Zebstrika knew it. "If my moves aren't getting through, then what am I gonna do? I guess I'll have to wait for an opening..."

"All right then, Umbreon, let's keep the status coming. Confuse Ray!" Roy shouted. Umbreon's eyes lit up. Zebstrika was caught staring right at Umbreon and it suddenly became dizzy. Roy smirked, knowing his strategy had worked. "The dreaded Parafusion. A Pokemon that is both paralyzed and confused has a very small chance of attacking. Most of the time, it'll either hurt itself in confusion or get stopped in its tracks by paralysis. A very potent combo of status conditions if I do say so myself. Now, to help speed things along. Umbreon, Dark Pulse!" Umbreon's rings glowed as it released a wave of dark energy. It slammed into Zebstrika, who grimaced in pain. Damon's eyes narrowed as he tried to think of a way to overcome the dreaded combination of paralysis and confusion. An idea clicked in his head as he thought of a way to get rid of all the electricity around Zebstrika's body.

"Zebstrika, use Discharge!" Damon ordered. Despite being confused, Zebstrika gathered the electricity around it's body. Roy saw this as an extremely clever move with the electricity generated from paralysis being drawn into the attack and he grimaced.

"Umbreon, Protect!" Umbreon attempted to form the protective shield, but yelped as it's own paralysis prevented it from moving. "Shit..." Roy cursed under his breath. A massive wave of electricity slammed into Umbreon from Zebstrika's Discharge. Damon grinned and began to press the offensive again.

"Flame Charge, Zebstrika!" The electric zebra coated itself in flames again and charged, but the confusion changed its course as it slammed into a wall. "Argh, the confusion hasn't worn off yet," Damon muttered.

"Umbreon, keep chipping away at it. Use Dark Pulse!" Roy commanded. Umbreon shot out another wave of dark energy, but Zebstrika's wild movements made it miss. "Rats..." Roy thought. "This isn't an area Umbreon excels in at all, but I don't really have a choice". He then shouted out a command. "Umbreon, charge in close!" Umbreon started charging towards Zebstrika. "What's he doing?" Damon thought. "Whatever, can't let him get close. Zebstrika, Discharge!"

"Jump over it and continue on your course!" Umbreon leaped over the wave of electricity and kept on charging. "Now, close range Shadow Ball!" Umbreon formed the dark blob in it's mouth and shot it at point-blank range at Zebstrika. With no time to dodge, Zebstrika took the Shadow Ball dead on and was heavily damaged. "Finish this with Dark Pulse!" Roy ordered. Umbreon released the dark energy wave again and slammed Zebstrika hard. The electric zebra hit the ground after taking two direct attacks. The referee ran over to check on Zebstrika.

"Oh nuts," Damon thought. "This isn't good at all".

"Zebstrika is unable to battle. The winner is Umbreon!" the referee announced as he raised the green flag in his right hand.

"After an amazing exchange of moves, Zebstrika is the one that yields! This is only gonna get better, folks!" the announcer exclaimed in his overly excited tone.

"Good job, Zebstrika. Return". Damon held out the Poke Ball and called Zebstrika back. He made a mental note to get a type advantage going as well since he could see Umbreon was wearing down. He pulled a Poke Ball from his belt. "Go get 'em, Scizor!" Out from the ball burst a red mantis-like Pokemon with intimidating pincers for hands. Its body was made of pure steel.

"Umbreon vs. Scizor. Begin!" The referee raised his flags to signal the start of the next battle.

"Scizor, finish this before it even starts! X-Scissor!" Scizor zipped up to Umbreon and crossed its pincers.

"Quick, Umbreon, use Confuse Ray!" Roy shouted. Umbreon's eyes glowed and Scizor became dizzy.

"Damn, full-on attacks aren't getting me anywhere,: Damon thought. "I know, what, I'll boost Scizor's stats while I wait for an opportunity to strike". He called out to Scizor. "Use Swords Dance!" Scizor, despite being confused, performed a frantic dance and sharply boosted its attack. Roy saw that Umbreon couldn't do a thing other than keep confusion going, so he pulled out Umbreon's Poke Ball.

"Umbreon, return!" he called out, holding out the Poke Ball and calling Umbreon back.

"Oh, a Pokemon switch from Roy. What's he going to go with next?" the announcer said. Roy deliberated the choice in his head and finally settled on his choice. Knowing that he was fighting an excellent trainer, he set himself in a position not unlike that of a pitcher in baseball. He pulled a Poke Ball from his belt and held it as he started a windup. As he pitched the Poke Ball out, he yelled out.

"Darmanitan, you're up!" The ball burst open and out popped a brownish-red primate with a devious grin and flaming eyebrows. It was hunched over onto all fours as it's arms were quite large. It pounded the ground and snorted out of it's eagerness to fight.

"Darmanitan vs. Scizor. Begin!" the referee said.

"Darmanitan, slam 'em with a Flare Blitz!" Roy commanded. Darmanitan became engulfed in flames and charged at Scizor.

"Scizor, use Agility and dodge!" Damon called out. Scizor dashed around the stadium at blinding speeds and dodged Darmanitan's Flare Blitz. "Now, fire a Flash Cannon at it!" Scizor opened a pincer and began charging its Flash Cannon. A ball of light shot out of Scizor's pincer.

"Darmanitan, use Hammer Arm to knock it back!" Darmanitan's arm bulged with muscle. Once the Flash Cannon drew near, Darmanitan swung its arm at the ball of light and reflected it back at Scizor.

"Scizor, knock it back!" Scizor punched at the ball of light with its pincer and knocked it back at Darmanitan. The fire ape kept swinging at it with Hammer Arm while Scizor used its pincers in a lethal tennis match with the Flash Cannon as the ball.

"Back and forth the Flash Cannon goes; who gets hit, nobody knows," the announcer commented. Roy was getting tired of batting the Flash Cannon back at Scizor, so he called out to Darmanitan.

"Knock it back again, but then charge at it with Flare Blitz!" Darmanitan knocked the ball of light back at Scizor, then engulfed itself with flames again and charged. Scizor had little time to react to both the Flash Cannon and charging fire ape. Scizor batted the Flash Cannon away and prepared to use Agility to dodge, but was too slow. Darmanitan crashed into Scizor, severely damaging the steel mantis due to his Bug and Steel dual typing being extremely susceptible to Fire-type attacks. Scizor could barely stand after the attack, but continued to fight.

"Scizor, use X-Scissor!" Damon called out. Tired, Scizor drew itself up and crossed its pincers. Using it's light yet durable wings, it sped over to Darmanitan and brought it's pincers down in an X shape. Darmanitan leaped backwards to dodge.

"Darmanitan, use Hammer Arm!" Darmanitan retaliated Scizor's arm-based attack with it's own arm-based attack, swinging its muscular arm at the mantis. Scizor used Agility to dodge, however, and struck again with another X-Scissor. Roy was prepared this time, though. "Rock Slide!" he called out. Darmanitan struck the ground and raised some rocks from the field. The rocks tumbled out of the sky onto Scizor's head. Scizor dropped to the ground from the force of the rocks. It struggled to get back up because of the beating it had taken. "All right, finish this with a Hammer Arm, Darmanitan!" Unable to move, Scizor took a direct hit from Darmanitan's muscular right arm, knocking it out cold.

"Scizor is unable to battle. The winner is Darmanitan!" The referee raised his green flag.

"Tch, couldn't get everything off. I might've had a chance despite the type disadvantage," Damon mused. His next plan was to take the battle to the skies. "Altaria, go get 'em!" Damon yelled as he tossed out Altaria's Poke Ball. The cotton-winged dragon took to the skies straight out of the Poke Ball.

"Darmanitan vs. Altaria. Begin!"

"Altaria, shoot at it with Dragon Pulse!" A pulse of energy formed in Altaria's mouth and was fired at great speed. Darmanitan barely had time to react.

"Darmanitan, Endure it!" Darmanitan braced itself in case the Dragon Pulse was fatal. It emerged from the impact with a few scratches. "Ok, Darmanitan, use Rock Slide!" Darmanitan pounded the ground to raise more rocks which tumbled down from the sky. Altaria, however, deftly avoided the falling boulders. "Tch, aerial combat isn't Darmanitan's forte," Roy mumbled.

"Now, Altaria, Aerial Ace!" Altaria did a loop-de-loop and dove at Darmanitan at increasing speed.

"Darmanitan, counter with Hammer Arm!" Darmanitan swung its arm at the diving dragon and connected just as Altaria connected with the ape's fist. Altaria had built up enough speed and momentum to knock Darmanitan back despite the Hammer Arm counter.

"Now, Dragon Pulse!" Altaria shot a Dragon Pulse at the airborne Darmanitan and scored a direct hit. Darmanitan hit the ground with a loud 'thud'.

"Darmanitan is unable to battle. Altaria is the winner!" The referee raised his red flag.

"Darmanitan, great job. Take a long rest," Roy said as he called Darmanitan back. He pulled another Poke Ball from his belt. "If it's an aerial battle you want, it's an aerial battle you'll get," he called across the field. He tossed the Poke Ball into the air. "Pidgeot, you're up!" The majestic bird Pokemon burst from the ball and took to the skies.

"Pidgeot vs. Altaria. Begin!"

"All right, Pidgeot, start with Aerial Ace!"

"You use Aerial Ace too, Altaria!" The airborne Pokemon both did a loop-de-loop and dashed straight at each other. The resulting collision threw both Pokemon backwards.

"Don't let up, Pidgeot; use Steel Wing!" Pidgeot's wings glowed white and turned as hard as steel. It sped towards Altaria.

"Altaria, Dragon Pulse!" The cotton-winged dragon shot a pulse of energy at Pidgeot, but the majestic bird executed a barrel roll and avoided the attack. Pidgeot slammed into Altaria with its steel-hard wings and sent the cotton-winged dragon spiraling downwards. Altaria eventually righted itself and rose back up to fight Pidgeot. It had begun to glow with a brilliant light, signaling that it was charging a move. Roy recognized it as Sky Attack, the most powerful Flying-type attack. It had a higher chance of scoring critical hits and the possibility of making the target flinch if hit. Altaria was one of only ten Pokemon to learn Sky Attack naturally. Roy called out an order to Pidgeot.

"Pidgeot, try Substitute!" Just as Altaria launched the Sky Attack, Pidgeot vanished into thin air, In the bird's place was a small doll that would take damage for Pidgeot. The Substitute took the powerful Sky Attack for Pidgeot and faded away as it's health was spent. Pidgeot faded back into existence, hurt a little from creating the Substitute. "Ok, now use Roost!" Roy called out. Pidgeot landed and restored its health. Damon used the opportunity to strike.

"Aerial Ace, Altaria!" Altaria dove at the grounded Pidgeot, but Roy was ready.

"Pidgeot, Heat Wave!" Pidgeot spread its wings and a wave of hot air rushed out at Altaria. Unable to bear the heat, Altaria flew out of the way.

"A surprise move from Pidgeot! Who knew this bird was packing heat?" the announcer exclaimed, fully aware of the pun he made. Several people in the crowd groaned.

"Ok, this aerial battle isn't turning out the way I was expecting it to, so it's time to make a switch. Pidgeot, U-Turn!" Pidgeot took flight again, picked up speed, tucked in it's wings, and slammed into Altaria. It showed minimal damage. Pidgeot then turned into a bright light and flew back to it's Poke Ball. Roy pulled out another Poke Ball and tossed it out. "Nidoking, you're up!" The purple Drill Pokemon emerged from the light, it's sharp horn gleaming in the light of the stadium.

"Altaria, shoot it with Dragon Pulse!"

"Dodge and shoot back with Ice Beam!" Nidoking dove out of the way of the Dragon Pulse and shot an icy beam of energy at Altaria. Altaria attempted to dodge, but the Ice Beam caught its wing. It went spiraling downwards, screeching in pain as its wing was frozen solid and scored a type advantage on both of its types, Dragon and Flying. "Ok, Nidoking, end this one with style. Impale it with Megahorn!" Nidoking rushed at the projected impact spot Altaria was to crash-land at, and timed it perfectly to intercept it, slamming the cotton-winged dragon with its horn. Altaria had already taken severe damage, so the Megahorn attack knocked it out.

"Altaria is unable to battle. Nidoking is the winner!"

"Good job, Altaria. Return". Damon called Altaria back into its Poke Ball. He knew what direction this battle was going and needed to do something about it... and fast. He pulled a Poke Ball from his belt and threw it out. "Gallade, go get 'em!" The Blade Pokemon burst out of the ball and struck a battle pose.

"Nidoking vs. Gallade. Begin!"

"Ok, Nidoking, start with Megahorn!" Roy sounded very confident, having defeated half of Damon's team. Damon, however, just grinned, knowing Roy has just fallen into his trap.

"Gallade, Psychic!"Gallade's eyes glowed blue and Nidoking stopped in its tracks as it was lifted into the air. Gallade threw Nidoking across the stadium and into the wall. Nidoking roared in pain as it lifted itself from the rubble caused by crashing into the wall.

"Nidoking, Earth Power!" Nidoking stomped the ground and caused a hole to open up near Gallade. Out of the hole came an eruption of powerful energy, striking Gallade dead on. "Now use Ice Beam!" Nidoking shot out an Ice Beam as Gallade got back up.

"Quick, Gallade, counter it with a Shadow Ball!" Gallade conjured up a dark blob and launched it as if it were Ryu performing a Hadoken. The beam and blob collided and exploded in the middle of the battlefield, creating a dust cloud. Both trainers called out orders.

"Nidoking, Poison Jab!" Nidoking's horn gleamed as it charged.

"Gallade, Close Combat!" Gallade poured its strength into the attack as it rushed into the dust cloud. When the dust settled, both Pokemon were duking it out, Nidoking lashing out with its horn laced with poison and Gallade rushing at Nidoking with power exuding from its bladed arms. The trainers let their Pokemon continue to attack until both were exhausted. In one last-ditch effort, the trainers called out Poison Jab and Close Combat again. Both attacks connected with Nidoking's horn connecting with Gallade's torso and Gallade's fist connecting with Nidoking's face. Both Pokemon flew backwards, clearly exhausted. The referee ran over.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle! It's a double knockout!"

"Wow, folks, this may only be the first match, but sparks are already flying at the Battle Hub! If this is just the first battle, I can't wait for all the other matches!"

"Nice job, Nidoking. Return."

"Great job, Gallade. Take a nice, long rest."

"Nice moves there, Damon. I certainly wasn't expecting special moves from a physical attacker like Gallade".

"Thanks. It's just how I like to fight my battles. Power through with all sorts of attacks!" At that, he pulled out a Poke Ball. "Hydreigon, go get 'em!" Out of the Poke Ball burst a three-headed blue, purple, and black dragon. It roared fiercely as an attempt to intimidate everyone. Roy suddenly didn't look so confident. He knew firsthand how powerful Hydreigon were. While in Unova on one of his collection outings, a Hydreigon was attacking a little Darumaka in the desert. The Hydreigon used fierce attacks such as Dragonbreath and Crunch. He had saved the Darumaka by fending off the Hydreigon with his Aggron. Knowing this, Roy pulled a Poke Ball from his belt.

"Aggron, you're up!" A steel-armored dinosaur creature emerged from the ball. It roared out a battle cry. When it saw its opponent was a Hydreigon, it smirked, having taken down one of these Pokemon before.

"Aggron vs. Hydreigon. Begin!"

"Aggron, start this off with an Iron Tail!" Aggron's tail glowed white and it jumped into the air, swinging its tail at the three-headed dragon.

"Block the attack with Dragon Rush, Hydreigon!" The dragon went backwards a bit, then charged forward with energy coating it. It collided with Aggron's Iron Tail, resulting in a stalemate. Roy had planned for this, however.

"Bring down your fist, Aggron. ThunderPunch!" Aggron charged its fist with electrical energy and brought it down on Hydreigon. The combined force of Iron Tail and ThunderPunch broke through Hydreigon's Dragon Rush, and Hydreigon slammed to the ground. It got back up quickly.

"All right, Hydreigon, use Tri Attack!" Each of Hydreigon's heads formed a beam of energy. The left head formed a beam of icy energy, the right head formed a beam of fiery energy and the main head formed a beam of electrical energy. The attack was launched and struck Aggron dead on. It didn't appear to have much effect due to the move's Normal typing against a dual Steel and Rock type, but that didn't faze Damon. He simply ordered another attack. "Ok, so that didn't work. Now let's just use Dragon Rush again!" Hydreigon built up energy while diving down from the sky and tried to ram into Aggron. Aggron was prepared to counterattack.

"Aggron, use Stone Edge!" Roy called out. Aggron summoned sharp-edged stones and stabbed at Hydreigon from below. The stones broke through the energy generated by Dragon Rush and knocked Hydreigon out of the air. Damon was getting frustrated at this point.

"Hydreigon, Draco Meteor!" he yelled. Hydreigon roared and summoned a ball of energy which it shot into the sky. Roy prepared himself for a powerful impact; Draco Meteor was widely considered the strongest Dragon-type attack. The sky flashed and a rain of meteors rocketed down.

"Aggron, brace yourself!" Aggron put it's armored arms in front of its face to prevent a direct hit. A few meteors struck Aggron, but it was largely unfazed. "Now, use Iron Tail, but infuse it with power from Aqua Tail as well!" This caught Damon off guard.

"Aqua Tail? Aggron can learn that?" Caught in surprise, he failed to give Hydreigon a command, and the dragon took a heavy blow. This was really trying Damon's patience. "That's it! Hydreigon, Outrage!" The dragon took on a wild, almost demonic look and began rampaging everywhere. Now it was Roy's turn to be surprised, as the power output from this Outrage seemed abnormal. He passed it off as just a perk of having a Hydreigon, though. Aggron took some damage from the Outrage. Both Pokemon were starting to wear down. Hydreigon became dizzy and confused out of fatigue, so Roy used this to his advantage.

"I think we can end this now. Use Iron Tail!" Aggron's tail glowed white and it swung at Hydreigon. The dragon didn't see it coming as it was lost in confusion. Aggron slammed Hydreigon hard with the steel-hard tail and the dragon struck the ground, knocked out.

"Hydreigon is unable to battle. Aggron wins!"

"Ack! Hydreigon, return!" Damon was beginning to worry that he might not win. "This is gonna take a miracle now..." he thought to himself. He pulled out his final Poke Ball and tossed it skyward. "Charizard, it's now or never!" The ball burst open and a large orange winged lizard with a flaming tail emerged. It roared to the skies and spouted flames from its mouth.

"Aggron vs. Charizard. Begin!"

"Charizard, Heat Wave!" The lizard breathed hot air and beat it forward with its wings. Aggron, who was worn out from the battle with Hydreigon, took a heavy blow. Roy grimaced.

"Aggron, try Stone Edge!" Aggron summoned the sharp-edged stones and stabbed at Charizard from below, but Charizard blew the stones away. "Darn. Try Aqua Tail, then!" Aggron's tail turned blue with the power from Aqua Tail and swung it at Charizard. Charizard tried to take to the skies to avoid it, but was hit on the foot. The lizard roared in pain from the super-effective attack.

"Charizard, Flare Blitz!" Charizard cloaked itself in fire, circled the stadium at low altitude, and charged straight at Aggron.

"Counter with Aqua Tail!" Aggron's tail glowed blue again and Aggron swung at the charging Charizard. The momentum of the Aqua Tail swing knocked Charizard backwards.

"You're not gonna get away with that! Charizard, Hyper Beam!" Charizard began charging a powerful yellow beam in its mouth. Roy knew he was going to have to deflect this, but the timing would be difficult since Hyper Beams were powerful and fast. Charizard fired the Hyper Beam and the stadium shook from the raw power of it.

"Aggron, deflect it with Iron Tail!" Aggron, though worn out, swung its tail at the beam. The beam connected with the tail and a stalemate resulted. Charizard pumped more and more power into the beam in an effort to knock Aggron out, but Aggron held its ground. Eventually, Charizard began to tire of firing the Hyper Beam and Aggron's stalling paid off. The steel dinosaur deflected the Hyper Beam into the ground. "Quick, Aggron, Finish this with Aqua Tail!" Aggron charged at Charizard , who was recovering from firing the Hyper Beam. With no time to dodge or block, Aggron's tail struck home, delivering a crushing blow to the lizard. However, Charizard stood its ground and recovered from the Hyper Beam recharge time. A blazing red aura surrounded it.

"Aha, Blaze activated!" exclaimed Damon. "Blaze powers up Fire-type attacks in a pinch like this. Charizard, finish it with Heat Wave!" Charizard opened its mouth to breathe the hot air, but Aggron tackled it to the ground, sending the Heat Wave straight into the sky.

"Aggron, ThunderPunch!" An electrified fist pounded Charizard in the face. Charizard kicked Aggron off of it sending it back to its side of the field.

"Charizard, Flare Blitz!" Damon called in a last-ditch effort to defeat Aggron.

"Aggron, Aqua Tail!" Roy commanded. If he couldn't outright defeat the lizard, he was at least going to take it down with Aggron, since he still had three Pokemon left: his paralyzed Umbreon from earlier, Pidgeot, who had U-Turned out, and a Pokemon he hadn't had to use. Aggron's and Charizard's attacks collided and a massive dust cloud formed from the resulting explosion of power. Both trainers shielded their eyes.

"Oh my! Nobody can see a thing! Who's going to come out of this standing up?" the announcer exclaimed. The dust began to settle down. Both Pokemon were still standing, albeit extremely worn out. Damon and Roy went to issue another command, but just then, both Pokemon gave out, their injuries too much for them to keep fighting.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle. It's a double knockout! But, since the green trainer still has three Pokemon remaining, the winner of this round is Aggron, and the match goes to Roy Ashford!" The crowd went ballistic with cheering as the match ended. Both trainers called their Pokemon back.

"And the victor of the first match is Roy Ashford of Olivine City! What a fight, folks! For the first match of the first round, this sure had fans on the edge of their seats! I'm really looking forward to the other matches now!" the announcer exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement. On the field, Roy and Damon met at the center of the field and shook hands.

"Thanks for the match. I didn't expect to be eliminated so early, but I was up against a most powerful opponent in you," Damon said.

"Aw, don't mention it," Roy replied. "You were one heck of an opponent yourself. I certainly didn't expect that Gallade of yours to use special moves. No wonder the announcer said you've been taking the world by storm; you're quite the offensive-minded battler". Up close, Roy could see that he was a couple of inches shorter than Damon, who stood at six feet on the dot.

"Yep. That's always been my battle philosophy; to power my way through and never let up the attack". Damon sounded very confident of his battle style. "Man, that Aggron of yours was seriously tough. How did it stand up to all those powerful attacks?"

"Lots and lots of training against powerful Pokemon. Aggron and I have spent a long time together. He was a gift from someone very special to me". Roy closed his eyes as he thought of Jasmine.

"Ah, I see. Yeah, I guess that'll do it, haha! Anyways, I had a lot of fun battling you. Mind if I tag along with you back to the waiting area?"

"Sure. I'll let you meet my friends when we get there. Let's go; they gotta clean up the mess we made out here, haha!" With that, Roy and Damon started walking back to the waiting area. Damon turned to Roy on the way.

"Hey, I'll let you in on a little secret. These eyes of mine? They're not really red. They're actually light blue, but it kinda makes me look albino, haha! So I've got red contacts in".

"I figured as much. People don't normally have red eyes, haha!"

"Yeah, I mean, what are we, Pokemon?" Roy chuckled at this.

"Oh, you are gonna get along quite well with me and my friends".

Meanwhile, in the executive box, Lance observed the wreckage on the ground of the battlefield. He made a mental note to himself that this tournament was shaping up to be even more interesting than even he anticipated. "Guess I'd better thank that boy for the tip to invite that Roy guy. I never should have doubted his insight". With a sweep of his cape, Lance left the box to head to an autograph session.

**Author's Note:** **And it's finally here! The first round of the tournament is underway! How'd I do? I think I did pretty well for this only being the first match. This chapter introduces yet another user-submitted OC: Damon Klutch submitted by pokestets23. I may have written him a bit OOC, but I digress. He'll definitely be more in-character as the story progresses. This is also my longest chapter yet, coming in at a whopping eleven pages of text. This didn't actually take long to write, though, as it was mostly a battle scene. I think i'll be able to get more chapters done now that I've gotten into 'battle mode'. I really enjoyed writing the battle between Roy and Damon, so I feel like I'm going to have an easier time writing the battle scenes than the out-of-battle scenes. So, feel free to leave a review with your comments, thoughts, critiques, and OC's. More OC's are always welcome, though it's possible some of them may not be used. Regardless, send them in anyways; just know that I will use (or not use) them at my discretion. Next time, it'll probably be an out-of-battle chapter to gear up for the next match. Until then, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	9. An Abandoned Memory

Chapter 6: An Abandoned Memory

The waiting room at the north end of the stadium was alive with trainers chatting about the battle that had just taken place. A clash of powerful trainers so early in the tournament had stoked the fighting spirits of all the other participants. The door opened and everyone turned their heads to see who it was. Once they did, they all rushed over to them. Roy and Damon, who looked thoroughly battle-weary, were suddenly swarmed by a sea of trainers asking them about how it felt to be locked in such an epic battle. Roy, never one to stay in crowds, tried to get the trainers to back off.

"Guys, guys, please, give us some room. We're tired from that battle. Let us get through, please," Roy called over the voices of the other trainers. The mob of trainers quieted down and let Roy and Damon through. The next few matchups were called, and eight trainers left the room. The stadium had four battlefields, but only one was in use to kick it off because Lance had ordered it that way in his ever-so-typical dramatic fashion.

"So, where are your friends hiding?" Damon asked Roy.

"I... thought they'd be in here," Roy replied. "I'm pretty sure at least one of them would be, at least". He scanned the sea of trainers to see if he could spot Freeze, Lexi, or Aidan, but to no avail. He shrugged and went to the back of the room. "Well, we'll wait here for a bit and see if any of 'em come by".

"Alright then," Damon responded. He took a seat across from Roy. Roy began humming a little tune to himself, as was his habit. Damon recognized the tune and began to hum along with Roy. After a few minutes, Roy got bored of humming the tune. He looked up at the matchup board to see any important matchups. Freeze was the next of his friends to do battle, and his opponent was a black-haired guy with jade-green eyes and slightly tan skin. Roy thought it might make for an interesting matchup. Just then, a voice called from across the room.

"Hey, Roy, over here!" Roy looked around for the source of the call. Looking towards the door, he saw Lexi and Aidan waving to him. Lexi called out to him again. "Come on, we're gonna go watch a match!"

"Right. I'll be right over," Roy replied. He turned to Damon. "Hey, come on, friends found me".

"Ok then," was Damon's response. He got up slowly as he was still tired from the battle. He and Roy walked over to the door where Lexi and Aidan were waiting.

"Well, at least we finally found you," Lexi said once Roy and Damon reached them. "We figured you might be in here, but of course, it's the last place we thought to look".

"Told you we should've come here first," Aidan remarked.

"Hush, you," Lexi said back jokingly. Aidan rolled her eyes to return the joke.

"So, which field are we headed to?" Roy asked.

"Field 3. Freeze is saving our seats," Aidan replied. She noticed Damon then. "Hey, this the guy you just battled?" she asked.

"Yep, and let me tell you, he's one tough customer," Roy answered. He motioned for Damon to introduce himself.

"I'm Damon. Damon Klutch. I'm from Vermillion City," he said to the girls.

"Name's Aidan Gallow. I live in Rustboro City".

"And I'm Lexi Redstone. I'm from Nuvema Town".

"Right, now that we're all acquainted, let's head on over to the battlefield and watch some Pokemon fight it out, shall we?" Roy asked the group.

"Yep, let's head on over," Lexi said. The group made their way to battlefield 3, on the eastern end of the complex. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon, and the sun was beating down. The breeze, however, was refreshing. Wingull and Pelipper drifted across the sky as the breeze blew in from the harbor. The gang made their way into the stands of battlefield 3 and searched for Freeze. Freeze stood out from where he was as he was the only one in a blue hoodie in that area. The gang made their way through the crowd and over to where Freeze had saved seats. They sat down just as a cheer erupted from the crowd as one trainer's Pokemon scored a big hit on the other trainer's Pokemon. Roy looked out over the battlefield and saw the green trainer was using a Donphan while the red trainer was using a Sandslash. The Pokemon were locked in a close battle with both trainers ordering their Pokemon to use Rollout. Donphan had just scored a hit on Sandslash.

"So, Freeze, did we miss anything?" Roy asked.

"Not much," Freeze replied. "The green trainer hasn't lost any Pokemon yet and the red trainer is on his second Pokemon. His previous one was a Jolteon". He didn't seem very interested in this match.

"Right, so we didn't miss much here," Roy said in response. Freeze nodded. "By the way, I brought a new friend. We just battled in the first match". Roy tilted his head towards Damon to pint him out.

"So I see," Freeze responded. He turned his attention back to the battle. Damon turned to Roy.

"Not the friendly type, I see," Damon commented.

"Nope, not in the slightest," Roy replied. "He calls himself Freeze for reasons I don't know".

"Right. Something tells me he's in some kind of a zone. I caught a look of his eyes and it looked like he was completely zoned out," Damon said. Roy, Lexi, and Aidan took a look over at Freeze and noticed that Damon's observation was dead on. Freeze appeared to be watching the battle, but his eyes weren't focused on it at all.

"Wonder what's wrong with him," Aidan remarked.

"You mean other than his usual disposition? I wouldn't know," Lexi responded.

"Yeah, I mean, I was just talking to him this morning and he said he was looking forward to fighting me in the tournament," Roy said.

"Odd," Damon remarked. "Best not to ask him about it though, in case it's something really personal".

"I agree," Aidan complied. They shifted their attention back to the battle. The green trainer's Donphan had already taken out the red trainer's Sandslash and was getting knocked around hard by a Feraligatr. They couldn't focus on the battle, however, out of concern for Freeze, who seemed completely out of it. Suddenly, Freeze got up and turned to the group.

"I'm going back to my room," he announced to the group.

"Uh, ok," Aidan replied. Freeze turned around and left. After a short while, Aidan got up and turned to the remaining three. "I'm gonna tail him for a bit".

"Ok then," Lexi replied. Aidan took off after Freeze, making sure to keep her distance.

/

The central area of the Battle Hub was quite busy even though there were battles being fought at that time. Aidan was running through the crowds of people in an effort to locate Freeze, no easy task in the sea of trainers and battle-lovers in the Battle Hub. Aidan began to think she had lost Freeze when she spotted the trademark blue hoodie headed towards the Grand Dragon Hotel. She quickly began following him, making sure she weaved her way between crowds of people so she wasn't spotted. Freeze was so zoned out, though, that he never would've seen her coming. After a walk down five or six blocks, Freeze entered the lobby of Grand Dragon, Aidan hot on his trail. By the time Aidan entered the lobby, Freeze was already in the elevator. Aidan waited for the other elevator to open up. Once on the seventh floor, she peered around the corner and saw Freeze opening the door to his room. Once he entered and shut the door, Aidan dashed from around the corner, slowing down before the four rooms the gang was situated in. She quietly opened the door to her room under the guise of grabbing something and quickly exited again, making sure to shut the door as silently as possible. She then tiptoed up to Freeze's door and pressed her ear against the wall right by it. She couldn't hear anything for a little while, but suddenly heard what sounded like a fist pounding against the wall. This caught her by surprise, so she pressed harder against the wall to get a closer listen. A sound cut across the relative silence. Aidan heard Freeze scoff in annoyance. Then, a voice.

"Hello?" As it turns out, the sound was Freeze's phone going off. "Oh, hi mom. Something concerning you?" Silence. "Right. No, I'm fine. You know where I am, mom, you saw the card on my bed. Yeah. I'm battling tomorrow. Yes, I'm aware of what tomorrow is. Of course not. Nobody's gonna beat me here, not after all that training I did. Come off it, mom, you know how good I got from training on Mt. Coronet. Yeah yeah, I hear ya. Look, I'm fine, now can we drop the subject?" Aidan didn't know exactly what Freeze was talking about, but he was getting increasingly frustrated, as his tone of voice indicated. "I said drop it, ok mom? You know I hate talking about that. Why do you think I went up that damn mountain in the first place? I told you, nobody's gonna beat me. Of course I'll be able to focus on the battle, what do you take me for? THIS ISN'T ABOUT HIM!" Aidan cringed as Freeze raised his voice. "Look, I didn't mean to yell at you. You know how I get about that. Right, I know. Ok, look, I'm done with this conversation. I'll talk to you when I'm done with my battle tomorrow. Bye mom". Freeze hung up and threw himself on his bed, trying to calm himself down. Aidan had to wonder, who was this 'him' Freeze mentioned? Obviously, Freeze was close to this person, otherwise it wouldn't have triggered such a reaction. Aidan got up, stretched out, and proceeded to knock on Freeze's door. Freeze's voice rang out. "Who is it?"

"It's Aidan. Open up," Aidan replied.

"Door's unlocked," was the response. Aidan opened the door, stepped in, and shut the door quietly. She saw Freeze sprawled out on his bed face-down.

"I, uh, heard you yelling. What was all that about?" Aidan asked sincerely.

"Nothing that concerns you," Freeze answered harshly. Something about his tone didn't seem quite right. It showed signs of his natural cold disposition, but also a few traces of something else. Aidan was determined to find out what.

"Come on, I wanna help you out. If it's something you can't trust other people with knowing, I understand, but at least tell me so you can get it off your shoulders. I can tell from the way you've been looking today. You were completely zoned out at the stadium earlier".

"Would it really matter? Nobody really needs to know what goes on in my life".

"I'm your friend, aren't I? Isn't that what friends do? Help you through whatever's going on? I really want to help you out here". Aidan felt a very faint blush tinge her cheeks.

"Well... I suppose you're right in that it'll help get it off my shoulders. Not sure, though. Never really does me any good to tell other people anything. But I suppose you've earned my trust enough that you can know".

"Well, I've got time, so if it's a lengthy story, go right ahead," Aidan said and sat down on a chair by the bed. Freeze sighed,

"Well, obviously you heard me yelling. That was my mom on the phone, and she brought up the one subject I always avoid". He paused as he tried to gather himself. "Ten years ago tomorrow... my older brother Lucas..." Freeze's voice was beginning to waver, "...he... died on Mt. Coronet..."

"Oh no, that's terrible! I'm sorry..." Aidan said.

"Lucas was... the only person I ever managed to form a bond with. We shared a brotherly bond like no other. He and I even had the same goal: to meet Articuno, the legendary titan of ice. We often went up the mountain to find Pokemon and see if Articuno would fly over. Lucas left one day to conquer the Sinnoh League. I was quite lonely without him around. It took months for him to finally return to Snowpoint City to win his gym badge there. He did and left for Sunyshore City soon after. He made it to the Sinnoh League competition, but lost. When he returned, he dedicated himself to training on the peaks of Mt. Coronet. I often went up the mountains to visit him while he trained. He is the reason I became a trainer. He trained me there on the peaks. All I had at the time were a few Pokemon in the Snowpoint area: a Sneasel and a Snover. During that time, he took me all over the world to catch Pokemon with him. We would always return to Mt. Coronet to train them, though. He was always so responsible, taking care of me when it was just the two of us in a strange new region".

"Your brother sounded like a very mature young man". Aidan remarked.

:He was," Freeze continued. :He taught me everything he knew about Pokemon and the world. He taught me never to fear anything, for fear paralyzes you and makes you unable to act. He wasn't as detached from the world as I am. Then, one day, on the peaks, it happened... Lucas was training his Abomasnow in a howling blizzard up there. I was studying his technique so I could emulate it when I used Snover in battles", He paused to regain composure. "We felt tremors and looked up the side of the mountain. An avalanche was headed straight for us, as well as a whole pack of wild Bronzong. Lucas concluded that the Bronzong had set off the avalanche as they were angry at us for disturbing their home. Lucas told me to run. Stubborn as I was and still am, I refused. Lucas was trying to push the Bronzong back with his Abomasnow's Blizzard attack. It was no good, and he scooped me up and ran for it. We were about halfway down the mountain when he tripped and fell face-down in the snow. He threw me to the side as he fell and shouted to me. I still remember the words: "Get away from here. Save yourself." I watched in horror as the snow swallowed him up and the horde of Bronzong slammed into him. Out of fear, I ran down the mountain. Once back in the city, I alerted the police". Another pause. "It took them days to discover anything. I was so tense for those few days I remember not eating a thing. Then, one day, the chief of police in Snowpoint knocked on the door. Mom answered it and I came dashing around the corner from my room". Freeze swallowed as he began to lose his composure again. "I remember exactly what the chief of police said. "We've found something out in the snow. It's Lucas. But, I'm sorry to say ma'am, and young Jacob..." Freeze's voice broke off as he stifled what could be perceived as a sob, "...he's dead. Frozen to the core. Frostbite took him, as well as some serious broken bones and shattered ribcages. He froze and was unable to breathe." I was crushed... I has just lost my only link to the world, and not only that, my brother. The one I shared the closest bond with... was gone... forever...: Freeze broke off again as he shivered with sorrow. Aidan had a sympathetic look on her face.

"Losing your brother like that... that must've been extremely painful... I can only imagine what it feels like to lose the one you shared the closest bond with..." Aidan said. Freeze felt no comfort as he was lost in sorrow.

"I still haven't been able to get over it, even ten years later, because of how close the two of us were. That's why I shut everyone out. That earned me the nickname 'Freeze'. By shutting everything and everyone out, I focused on the one thing my brother taught me the most: Pokemon. I swore to myself that I would fulfill our goal of meeting the legendary Articuno even if it cost me my life. I became so focused on the goal that nobody could even get close to me. So, when I was thirteen, I ascended Mt. Coronet once again. My mother was adamant about getting me to stay, but I didn't listen. I went up to the same place where Lucas and I always trained. When I got there, the horde of Bronzong that killed my brother was waiting. Filled with anger and hatred, I tried to drive them off. I was about to get pushed down the mountain when a blob of mud distracted them. A Piloswine cloaked in the snow had shot a Mud Bomb at them, and it bought me the time to drive them back. Since that day, I added Piloswine to my team and dedicated that spot to my brother. For the next five years, I trained nonstop on Mt. Coronet. With each passing day, I tried to suppress the memories of my brother through battling, as the memories only brought me pain. I would occasionally come down to stock up on supplies. If anyone spotted me, I would promptly tell them that not a word of our encounter must be spoken. Every day... I trained nonstop... to suppress the memories... but every year, there would always be one day... that I could never focus... on the training or anything else. That day... was always the day Lucas died. With each passing year, I was able to better suppress the painful memories... but I would always lose it all on that one day each year... I saw that as another reason to stay away from people. I knew I was emotionally unstable, so I put up this cold, icy disposition you saw when you first met me. It was all just a facade, though. When you broke through the facade at the docks, I realized that I was failing my brother by being downright cruel to everyone. He was never cold or harsh. He knew he couldn't afford to be, either, if he were to meet a legend. You made me realize my mistake. All of these events combined... meeting you, the phone call with my mom, and the tenth anniversary of Lucas' death... this was all fated to happen. Fate has brought me to my knees to make me realize it all. I will never meet Articuno if I keep shunning others because of the painful memories. It's all starting to make sense now. All the memories came flooding back to me when you made me realize what I was doing. That explains why I fell to my knees there, and why I didn't want to talk at the Pokemon Center. I know I still won't be able to entirely get over Lucas' death, but... thanks for hearing me out. It does feel a little better now that I got it off of my mind and let a friend know".

:That's good to hear," Aidan said. Freeze stood up to regain his composure. He breathed heavily and deeply. "Hey Freeze, just remember I'm here for you if you ever need someone to help you through this. I hate seeing friends down in the dumps. I may not know the pain of losing a family member like that, but I'm always willing to help those who have. I know I'm crazy and all, but deep down, I really care".

"Aidan..." A pause. "Thank you. For being the one fate had intervene in my life and make me realize that I was wrong in my actions. For that, I owe you my life. Though I may not completely get over the death of Lucas, I can ease the pain now knowing that his goal lives on in me, and I plan to fulfill it. I'm going to fight in his memory now. I'll probably still have traces of that cold disposition since I don't want people to get hurt if I get like this again, but I think I'm becoming the old me again. I'm glad you came into my life, Aidan. If it hadn't been for you, I probably would have gone on like this until I met an untimely end somewhere. Thank you so much". In a very un-Freeze-like moment, he pulled Aidan into a hug. The raw emotion of the moment was making Freeze shudder. Aidan returned the hug with a sincere smile on her face.

"I'm glad I could help, even by just being there," she said. "You gonna be ok now?"

"I think so. Thanks again," Freeze responded. "Oh by the way... you smell like dirt". Aidan broke the hug and slugged Freeze in the arm.

"Better to smell like dirt than fish or whatever. And yeah, you're gonna be alright," Aidan remarked.

"If you say so,: Freeze responded. Aidan stuck out her tongue playfully. Freeze shoved her lightly in response. "I'm gonna just watch the battles on TV now. I have to prepare for the battle tomorrow, anyways".

"Ok then. I'll head on back to the others and let them know you're fine".

"Alright then. See you around". Aidan turned around to leave. As she did, she accidentally brushed her hand up against Freeze's, causing her to blush. She hid it quickly and walked out of the door, shutting it behind her. Freeze had felt Aidan's hand brush up against his and he too had blushed a little. He decided not to dwell on it, though, and turned on the TV to watch some battles. In his head, he began to make his team choices for the battle tomorrow. Occasionally, his mind would wander to the memories of Lucas. He still felt twinges of pain, but remembering his long talk with Aidan helped dull it. He began talking to no-one in particular as he cast his gaze upward. "Lucas... if you're still watching over me... know that I will never let you down again. You meant too much to me to ever merit a letdown. Watch me, Lucas. I promise I'll fulfill our goal. I'll make you proud".

/

The night came and went like a speeding bullet. Bright and early the next morning, Freeze woke up to the sound of Taillow chirping and flocks of Pidgey in the streets cooing. He looked at the clock and saw he had time for breakfast and a shower, then he had to get to the stadium for the match. He finalized his team choices and turned on the shower. After a quick rinse-off, he picked up his Poke Balls and headed to the hotel's lobby. A hearty breakfast buffet awaited, yet he wasn't able to eat much. After finishing what he could of his eggs and waffles, he made his way over the the stadium, finally ready to face his first opponent with his promise to Lucas still fresh in his mind. "I will not let you down again, Lucas... Never again..."

**Author's Note: And that's a wrap for this chapter. I think I may be getting better at writing these out-of-battle scenes. So, here's a pretty big plot twist, eh? Freeze was cold to others the whole time because he never could get over the death of his brother Lucas (not the Lucas from D/P/Pt, you dolts :P). Guess it's a good thing Aidan showed up in his life, hm? I wonder how all this is going to affect him in his battle in the next chapter and in the rest of the story. Another user-submitted OC will be introduced in the next chapter, too. I hope you guys are ready for another big battle, 'cuz this next one's promising to be every bit as good as the last one. Ooh, I'm getting excited just thinking about writing it.**

**I also have some other story ideas not related to this story at all. One thing I'm thinking about doing is a novelization of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky based on a recent playthrough of Explorers of Time. That'll have to wait, though, as I'm stuck on Deep Spacial Rift at this time. But either way, that's the other thing I want to get running, as well as something Mega Man (hello, my username is a Robot Master).**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**

**Fun Fact: The title of this chapter, An Abandoned Memory, is a reference to the song Abandoned Memory, more commonly known as Mega Man 10 Wily Stage 1. It kind of works with how Freeze was suppressing his memories of Lucas.**


	10. A Pivotal Battle

Chapter 7: A Pivotal Battle

The stadium roared with cheering and yelling as the second day of round one was set to get underway. Spectators watched on in anticipation of more and more excellent battles. The battles of the previous day had left them hungry for more. The announcer took his place at his microphone and issued the announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the next battle is about to get underway!" The crowd went wild as the tunnels at each end of the stadium opened up. "In the green corner, hailing from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh, is a man known as the Legend of Snowpoint. He spent five years on the peaks of Mt. Coronet just to train his Pokemon and himself. The legend himself appears before us all today! Here he is, folks! The man only known to us as Freeze!" The green tunnel opened fully and Freeze stepped out into the blinding light, sporting his usual wear. He wasn't wearing his hoodie, however, as the day was simply too hot to warrant it. Instead, he wore an icy-blue t-shirt. He took his place on the battlefield and the announcer continued. "In the red corner, hailing from Ecruteak City in Johto, is a man who blew our minds at the Johto and Sinnoh Leagues. Inspired by the stories told by the elders of Ecruteak, he seeks to share his experiences with the entire city. You may know him well, folks. Give it up for Roman Blane!" The red tunnel opened up and Roman stepped out. He was tall, standing at 6'3", and had medium, two-inch long dark hair. He had it gelled up in a soulpatch of the same color. His jade-green eyes were focused on the battlefield. He wore a plain white t-shirt, regular denim jeans, and sandals, since the weather was so hot. Roman took his place on the battlefield and the referee stepped towards the center, motioning for the trainers to do so as well.

"Trainers, shake hands and introduce yourselves," the referee instructed. Roman put out his hand first.

"Roman Blane, Ecruteak City. You better give me a good match," Roman said. Freeze reluctantly extended his hand and shook Roman's.

"Just call me Freeze. Snowpoint City is my home. I expect you'll at least be a challenge to me," Freeze responded in a somewhat condescending tone. The trainers went back to their sides of the field and the referee took his place.

"Trainers ready?"

"Ready," both Freeze and Roman replied. Freeze narrowed his eyes, remembering his promise to Lucas to never let him down.

"Trainers are ready. Select your Pokemon!"

"Rowena, make your mark!" Roman called out and tossed a Poke Ball into the air. It burst open and a Noctowl emerged from the light. Freeze smirked, as Flying-types weren't going very far with him around. He pulled a Poke Ball from his belt and tossed it out.

"Cold Stone, freeze 'em solid!" The ball burst open and a Vanilluxe emerged. The ice cream-like Pokemon breathed a chilling breath and floated, ready to battle.

"Vanilluxe vs. Noctowl. Begin!" The referee raised his flags and the battle was underway!

"Ok, Rowena, start this off with am Air Slash!" (A/N: The submitted moveset had Gust, but Noctowl cannot learn it in any way, so I replaced it with Air Slash.) Noctowl shot a blade of air at Vanilluxe.

"That's nothing. Block it with a Flash Cannon!" Vanilluxe shot a ball of light to counter the blade of air. The two attacks collided and exploded, causing a dust cloud to kick up. "Ok, now set up Hail!" Vanilluxe glowed and sent clouds into the sky. In a matter of seconds it had started hailing hard. The crowd scrambled for cover from the chunks of ice falling from the sky.

"This isn't good. Inclement weather hinders flight capabilities, Rowena, Hypnosis!" Noctowl's eyes took on an eerie glow as it attempted to hypnotize Vanilluxe. Freeze knew how to avoid it, though.

"Acid Armor!" he called out. Vanilluxe seemingly faded out of existence and formed a pool of acid on the ground. The hypnosis had failed and Vanilluxe had gained a defense boost. The ice cream-like Pokemon solidified back into existence. "Looks like your Noctowl's got nothing on my Vanilluxe," Freeze remarked. "Use Blizzard!" Vanilluxe expelled a howling blast of cold air, moving the hail along with it. Noctowl was caught in the blast, and was frozen solid. Freeze smirked, knowing his opponent had made a grave mistake by sending out a Flying-type against him.

"Noctowl was just chilled to the core! It's frozen solid and can't move!" the announcer exclaimed.

"This isn't good," Roman thought. "I made a mistake going with a Flying-type here".

"Finish this one off with Flash Cannon," Freeze ordered. Vanilluxe shot a ball of light at the frozen owl. Though it seemed like the ice would just absorb the attack, damage was still done. Severely weakened by the Blizzard attack and the hail that was constantly pelting it, Noctowl couldn't stand up to the damage the Flash Cannon caused and fainted.

"Noctowl is unable to battle. Vanilluxe wins!" The referee raised his green flag.

"Ah, nice try, Noctowl. Return," Roman said as he called the owl back. He swiftly pulled out his next Poke Ball and threw it. "Make your mark, Streak!" The ball opened and an Infernape burst out. The flaming monkey let out a battle cry. Freeze soured a little as he wasn't too fond of fighting Fire-types.

"Vanilluxe vs. Infernape. Begin!"

"Streak, torch 'em with Flamethrower!" Infernape shot out an intense wave of fire.

"Quick, Acid Armor!" Vanilluxe began to melt into acid again, but was too slow and was scorched badly by the Flamethrower. "Great..." Freeze thought. "Vanilluxe isn't going to last too long..." He quickly issued another command. "Blizzard! Put out that fire!" Vanilluxe blasted cold air and snow again in an attempt to slow Infernape's blisteringly fast attacks and movements. Infernape took the attack, but was largely unfazed.

"It's gonna take more that a little snowstorm to put out Streak's fire," Roman said. "Hit 'em with a Flame Wheel!" Infernape cloaked itself in flames and charged at Vanilluxe.

"Dodge it, Vanilluxe, then use Flash Cannon!" Vanilluxe moved to the side to avoid the incoming fire monkey, then shot a ball of light at it. Infernape jumped over the ball of light and descended towards Vanilluxe.

:Finish it! Close Combat!" In such close quarters, there was no way to dodge or block the flurry of punches and kicks Infernape was launching. Vanilluxe took a heavy blow and was knocked out.

"Vanilluxe is unable to battle. Infernape wins!" The referee raised his red flag.

"Right then, ice cream won't cut it. Return, Vanilluxe," Freeze commented as he returned Vanilluxe to the Poke Ball. Pulling out another one, he then said, "If ice cream won't cut it, then how about this? Sink 'em, Iceberg!" The ball burst open and a Dewgong emerged. The white Sea Lion Pokemon let out a cry and prepared itself for battle.

"Dewgong vs. Infernape. Begin!"

"Start with Ice Beam!" Dewgong shot an icy beam of energy from the small horn on its head.

"Counter with Flamethrower!" Infernape shot the Flamethrower directly at the incoming Ice Beam, resulting in an explosion. Dust kicked up again as the hail began to slow down. Freeze noticed this and ordered Dewgong to act.

"Iceberg, set the Hail back up!" Dewgong launched the energy for Hail into the sky. The hail intensified and sent any remaining onlookers running for cover.

"Quick, while he's distracted, get in there and use Close Combat!" Infernape rushed at Dewgong to strike it down.

"Not on my watch. Aqua Tail!" Dewgong's tail glowed blue and it swung at Infernape as it drew close. Infernape was knocked back by the hit, taking super-effective damage from the attack. The monkey got back up and struck a battle pose, awaiting an order.

"Flamethrower!" Infernape shot the wave of fire at Dewgong. It got out of the way, but it's fin was singed by the edge of the Flamethrower. Dewgong instinctively got under a spot where hail was hammering down. Pelted by the hail, Dewgong relaxed and the burn mark on its fin disappeared.

"Well well, looks like Iceberg is using the Hail to it's advantage here. Iceberg here has an ability called Ice Body. If the weather has been set to Hail, Iceberg can use it to heal itself slightly. Quite a useful ability in the heat of battle. All the hail has to do is touch Iceberg's body and it is instantly healed", Freeze explained. "Now, use Take Down, and follow it up with Aqua Tail!" Dewgong charged at Infernape while it's tail glowed blue with power.

"Don't even let it get close. Use Earthquake!" Infernape channeled its power to its foot and stomped the ground, causing a massive earthquake. The entire stadium rumbled from the magnitude of the quake. Dewgong slowed down to avoid becoming disoriented. Suddenly, the ground shot up at Dewgong. The Sea Lion Pokemon took a direct hit, but continued in it's path towards Infernape. Dewgong smashed into Infernape with the Take Down attack, hurting itself in the process. It then brought its tail around and swung Aqua Tail at the fire monkey. Infernape caught the tail, however, and Dewgong began flailing helplessly. "Heh, what are you gonna do now, hm?" Roman taunted. Freeze just smirked.

"Ice Beam, point-blank range!" Freeze commanded. Dewgong stopped flailing and shot an Ice Beam from its horn. At such close range, the chill of the core of the Ice Beam weakened Infernape's heat. Infernape began to shiver and released Dewgong. "Now, finish it! Aqua Tail!" Dewgong swung its tail at Infernape. The monkey took a direct hit and hit the ground.

"Infernape is unable to battle. Dewgong wins!"

"Nice job, Streak. Return," Roman said and called the monkey back to its Poke Ball. He thought to himself, "I'm seeing a theme so far with his Pokemon. They all share the Ice-type so far. Could he possibly have a team of nothing but Ice-type Pokemon?" He picked out a Poke Ball and threw it out, "Make your mark, Katana!" A Bisharp emerged from the Poke Ball. The Sword Blade Pokemon took a 'ready' stance.

"Dewgong vs. Bisharp. Begin!"

"Katana, use Metal Claw!" Bisharp's bladed arms took on a silver sheen as it took off towards Dewgong. The hail was easing up again, but Freeze didn't have time to set it back up.

"Stop it in its tracks with Ice Beam!" Dewgong shot the beam from it's horn but Bisharp moved too quickly for Dewgong to hit it. Bisharp slashed at Dewgong with Metal Claw. It was a direct hit to the face. Dewgong was hurt, but also quite riled up. "Aqua Tail, now!" Dewgong charged at Bisharp, tail glowing blue, and swung at it. Bisharp jumped over it, however.

"Now, Night Slash!" Bisharp moved blindingly fast into Dewgong's blind spot and slashed at the Sea Lion Pokemon. Another direct hit was sustained and Dewgong fell to the ground.

"Dewgong is unable to battle. Bisharp wins!"

"Not bad, Dewgong. Return," Freeze said and called Dewgong back. "He pulled out another Poke Ball and thought to himself, "I don't like the way this is going. It's too back-and-forth. I have to win this decisively, and I know just the Pokemon to do that for me". He threw out the Poke Ball. "Wily, slice 'em up!" The ball opened and Weavile burst out. This was going to be a matchup of quick and powerful attacks.

"Weavile vs. Bisharp. Begin!"

"Wily, Ice Punch!" Weavile's claw glowed with icy energy and it charged at Bisharp.

"Katana, Metal Claw!" Bisharp's blades took on the silver sheen again and charged at the incoming Weavile. The attacks resulted in a stalemate.

"Ok, Wily, use Screech!" Weavile broke off the stalemate by flinging Bisharp's arm backwards. Then, it let out an ear-shattering screech. The crowd, having returned to their seats after the hail had cleared, all covered their ears. Roman had to cover his ears as well.

"Agh, that thing is so loud!" He tried to issue a command, but couldn't be heard over Weavile's Screech.

"Now, while it's reeling, Ice Punch!" Weavile abruptly ended the Screech and dashed up to Bisharp, punching it in the face with Ice Punch. Bisharp stumbled backwards, caught off guard by the sudden strike. "Ice Punch again, Wily!" Weavile brought the other claw around and scored another hit with Ice Punch. The attacks weren't doing too much damage as Bisharp's part Steel typing made him resistant to Ice-type attacks, but Bisharp was reeling badly from the Screech and two Ice Punches to the face. The battle had become quite one-sided at this point. Freeze ordered Ice Punch after Ice Punch to keep beating Bisharp into a corner. Bisharp eventually stopped reeling and retaliated with a Metal Claw. Weavile saw it coming, however, and blocked with a Metal Claw of its own. Bisharp had nothing on Weavile at this point, as it was badly beaten from the repeated Ice Punches. Freeze ordered Weavile to use one claw for Ice Punch and the other for Metal Claw. Unable to react as it was quite dazed from the flurry of attacks it had just endured, Bisharp first took a blow to the head from Metal Claw, then got punched against the wall by Ice Punch. Bisharp had reached its limit and slid off the wall, unable to move.

"Bisharp is unable to battle. Weavile wins!"

"Nice try there, Katana. You deserve a long rest now," Roman said as he called Bisharp back. It seemed as though his earlier assumption was right; Freeze had used nothing but Ice-type Pokemon. Roman had to admit, using a specific type in a massive tournament like this took guts and exceptional skill. It was time to start bringing out the big guns. He took out a Poke Ball and threw it. "Rusty, make your mark!" When the ball burst open, a Bronzong emerged. The Bronze Bell Pokemon let out an echoing cry as it faced down Freeze and Weavile. A look of pure shock had washed over Freeze's normally indifferent face. He stood face-to-face with the Pokemon species that had killed his brother ten years ago. Terror took hold of Freeze as the referee signaled for the battle to start.

"Weavile vs. Bronzong. Begin!"

"Rusty, Gyro Ball!" Bronzong began spinning. When it had reached maximum velocity, it let itself loose towards Weavile. Bronzong moved surprisingly fast while spinning.

"Wily, get out of the way!" Freeze called out, terror clearly evident in his voice. Weavile jumped over the spinning bell and prepared to strike. "Night Slash!" Bronzong stopped spinning and Weavile struck, but bounced off of Bronzong's sturdy body.

"Is that all you've got? Use Flash Cannon!" Bronzong floated in midair, set itself like a cannon, and shot a ball of light. Weavile dodged and prepared to strike again, but another Flash Cannon was shot, scoring a heavy blow on the little weasel. Weavile went flying backwards. Freeze began to panic. Then, he saw something on Bronzong: a small dent on its left side. His pupils dilated as he remembered that fateful day ten years ago when Lucas was swallowed up by the avalanche and the Bronzong trampled him to death. The last Bronzong to pass had a dent on its left side exactly like the one he was seeing on Roman's Bronzong. Freeze became paralyzed out of fear as he realized that this Bronzong was the one to deliver the final blow to his brother ten years ago before the cold finished him off. Paralyzed with fear, he found himself unable to issue commands to Weavile. He also failed to see Bronzong smash into Weavile with a Gyro Ball attack until Weavile landed right next to him, knocked out cold.

"Weavile is unable to battle. Bronzong wins!" Freeze silently returned Weavile to its Poke Ball. He thought to himself, "Oh shit... that Bronzong... is one of those from that pack on Mt. Coronet... This isn't good..." He nervously took out his next Poke Ball, knowing he'd have something of a type advantage if the Bronzong didn't have the Levitate ability, but so nervous at the prospect of facing one of the Bronzong he despised since the day Lucas died.

"Tusk, get 'em!" Freeze called out as he trembled in fear. The ball opened and a Mamoswine emerged. It snorted and stomped the ground.

"Mamoswine vs. Bronzong. Begin!"

"As this next Pokemon matchup begins, it seems like Freeze is having some problems. What's the matter, trainer?" the announcer wondered aloud. Roman saw the fear in Freeze's eyes and took full advantage of it.

"You're going down with this next move! Give 'em a Flash Cannon!" Bronzong shot a ball of light at Mamoswine. The mammoth narrowed it's eyes and jumped over it with perfect timing. When it landed, the ground shook under Mamoswine's 600+ lbs of weight. It glared at the Bronze Bell Pokemon, clearly remembering the day ten years ago when it distracted this very Bronzong on Mt. Coronet as a wild Piloswine, buying Freeze the time he needed to drive the pack away. Now, faced with an opportunity to take out the Bronzong it had distracted, Mamoswine let out a fierce battle cry and smashed the ground with its front feet, causing a massive earthquake. Bronzong saw the shockwaves of the Earthquake attack coming, but couldn't float high enough to avoid it. It suffered a heavy blow due to not having the Levitate ability.

"All of a sudden, Freeze's Mamoswine has gone berserk! Perhaps that Bronzong has something to do with it! I don't know what's gonna happen folks, but whatever does, I have a feeling it's gonna be the deciding factor in this battle!" the announcer exclaimed. Mamoswine pounded the ground and charged straight at Bronzong without waiting for orders from Freeze, its instincts telling it to take out this Bronzong with authority. Mamoswine exuded a powerful aura as it charged full throttle towards Bronzong with its Superpower attack.

"Quick, Rusty, out of the way!" Roman called out. Bronzong moved to the side and Mamoswine came to a screeching halt as it attempted to change directions. "Now, Flash Cannon!" A ball of light shot from the bell Pokemon's body, but Mamoswine's quick reactions made it miss. Mamoswine charged again and nailed Bronzong with a Superpower attack. Bronzong, a very heavy and sturdy Pokemon, went flying into the wall. The stadium shook from the force of Bronzong smashing into the wall. Mamoswine instinctively followed up with Ice Shard. Flash-frozen chunks of ice flew through the air at Bronzong and hit. It didn't do much damage due to Steel-types natural resistance to ice. As this spectacle unfolded, Freeze just stared in disbelief. Mamoswine looked back at Freeze as if to say something. Freeze gulped and nodded as he understood that Mamoswine knew what this Bronzong had triggered. Mamoswine would fight to the end to protect Freeze's life. Revenge was just a bonus, as the pack of Bronzong had driven out this Mamoswine's pack at the same area on Mt. Coronet where Freeze had trained several years before all the events occurred. Mamoswine was just a little Swinub at the time, but he grew to resent the pack of Bronzong. When Freeze showed up to drive off the Bronzong pack so he could train, the mammoth Pokemon, as a Piloswine at the time, knew the time was right to help drive them off. Mamoswine turned back to face Bronzong. The bell Pokemon had picked itself up from the crash into the wall and was prepared to fight some more. The Pokemon stared each other down, waiting for the other to crack under the pressure. Freeze grappled with the memories of Lucas while trying to regain his focus on the battle. Suddenly, Freeze's unnaturally acute hearing picked up the sound of footsteps nearing the bottom of the stands. A voice rang out over the crowd noise.

"Freeze, remember the conversation we had yesterday! It's time to cast aside your fear and fight for your brother! Don't let him down!" It was Aidan, reminding Freeze that he had a promise to fulfill to Lucas. Freeze slowly swallowed as Aidan's voice rang out again. "You've made it this far, don't stumble now! Come on, you can do it!"

"She's right," Freeze thought. "I can't let my memories cloud my judgment. I have to focus... I have to erase my fears... just like Lucas. I will... I will prevail!" His confidence reignited, he barked an order to Mamoswine, who was, in truth, just stalling Bronzong out until an order was issued. "Tusk, Earthquake!" Mamoswine loosed a battle cry and stomped the ground hard. The shockwaves traveled at blinding speeds towards the Bronze Bell Pokemon, who, once again, was unable to avoid it since it had the Heatproof ability instead of Levitate. Bronzong took a hard hit, but hung on by the skin of its teeth.

"Rusty, calm yourself down. Calm Mind," Roman ordered. Bronzong focused its mind and received a boost to its Special Attack and Special Defense. "Now. Flash Cannon!" A more intense ball of light shot from Bronzong like a cannon, drawing on the boosted power from Calm Mind.

"Tusk, jump over it and use Stone Edge!" Freeze ordered. Freeze now possessed an air of commanding authority. He had become a completely different creature on the battlefield. Gone were his cold tendencies. All that mattered to him at the moment was one word: Win. Mamoswine easily jumped over the Flash Cannon and summoned sharp stones to stab at Bronzong. Many of the stones clanged around inside Bronzong's hollow body, creating a horrible echoing sound as Bronzong took a beating. The stones overwhelmed Bronzong and it fell to the ground, unable to lift itself. "Now, finish it! Earthquake!" Mamoswine used the momentum from being airborne to launch a powerful quake. Unable to lift itself from the ground, Bronzong was knocked out.

"Bronzong is unable to battle. Mamoswine wins!"

"I... I did it! I beat that Bronzong!" Freeze thought, overcome with relief that he had beaten his fear. He looked back into the crowd and saw Aidan in the front row breathe a sigh of relief. Freeze felt his cheeks grow warm as a very, very faint blush tinged them. He turned back to the battlefield, his dominance asserted and his confidence in overdrive. Roman had called Bronzong back and was throwing out his next Pokemon.

"Ali, make your mark!" The ball burst open and a Mienshao emerged. The Martial Arts Pokemon struck a battle pose and prepared to strike.

"Mamoswine vs. Mienshao. Begin!"

"Ali, Force Palm!" Mienshao rushed towards Mamoswine, its hand pulsing with energy. As it thrust its hand forward to strike, Mamoswine lowered its tusks to block. Mienshao hit its hand on Mamoswine's sharp tusk and recoiled in surprise.

"Tusk, Superpower! Show that little weasel thing what true power is!" Mamoswine roared and charged at the recoiling Mienshao.

"Not on my watch! Ali, aim Brick Break at its feet!" Mienshao's long arms glowed white as it launched a powerful punch at the incoming Mamoswine's feet. The timing was perfect, except that Mienshao wasn't expecting Mamoswine to stop short, so it ended up simply pounding the ground.

"Weren't expecting that, were you? Ice Shard!" Mamoswine launched chunks of ice at the Martial Arts Pokemon. Its arm was stuck in the ground, so it took a direct hit. Mamoswine then continued its Superpower attack. Mienshao's arm was dislodged from the ground, but the weasel-like fighting Pokemon was sent flying into the air. Mamoswine stood where it fell and impaled it with its tusk. Mienshao fell to the ground, absolutely wiped out by Mamoswine's insanely powerful strikes.

"Mienshao is unable to battle. Mamoswine wins!"

"Argh... Good job, Ali. Return," Roman said. He took out his final Poke Ball, knowing everything relied on this last Pokemon of his. "Crown, make your mark!" When the ball opened, a Starmie burst out. The starfish Pokemon let out its cry and awaited an order.

"Mamoswine vs. Starmie. Begin!"

"Roman is down to his final Pokemon! Can he pull off a comeback?"the announcer said to excite the audience.

"Crown, lead off with Water Gun!" Starmie sprayed a blast of water at Mamoswine.

"Ice Shard!" Freeze called. Mamoswine shot chunks of ice at the Water Gun and such a rate that the spray of water froze like it had been hit with an Ice Beam instead of Ice Shard. Roman was surprised. "Heh, impressive, eh?" Freeze said. "Tusk and I have been training for years. Its power is unrivaled by anyone on my team. Not only that, Tusk is always raring to show its power. Now, use Stone Edge!" Mamoswine summoned stones to stab at Starmie.

"Not happening. Blow away the stones with Rapid Spin!" Starmie began rotating rapidly, creating a gust of wind that blew away the Stone Edge. "Stones aren't gonna hurt Crown".

"Ok then, Earthquake!" Starmie stopped rotating and Mamoswine loosed a quake. Starmie was knocked back, but recovered from the hit quickly.

"Crown, use Recover!" Starmie glowed and restored its health. Freeze knew that he was going to have to beat Starmie in one hit, otherwise it would just recover the damage.

"Tusk, return!" He held out the Poke Ball and called Mamoswine back.

"Oh, a Pokemon switch! What is Freeze going with next?" the announcer said.

"Bigfoot, chill 'em to the core!" The ball burst open and an Abomasnow emerged. Abomasnow brought hail clouds out with it as its Snow Warning ability activated. It loosed a battle cry and prepared to fight.

"Abomasnow vs. Starmie. Begin!"

"Bigfoot, end this in one strike! Wood Hammer! The massive Frost Tree Pokemon rushed as fast as it could towards Starmie.

"Crown, Rapid Spin! Don't let it get close!" Starmie began rotating again and prevented Abomasnow from getting any closer.

"Bigfoot, wait for the rotations to stop, then use Blizzard," Freeze ordered. As Starmie began to slow down, Abomasnow launched a howling Blizzard, blowing Starmie back into the wall.

"Recover!" Starmie began to glow to recover lost health.

"Quick, Wood Hammer it!" Abomasnow dashed as fast as it could up to Starmie before it could finish recovering and threw a powerful punch at the starfish. Starmie hadn't finished recovering and took the blow right in its core. Abomasnow jumped back and Starmie slid down the wall. It's core began flashing, indicating that it had taken critical damage and could not continue.

"Starmie is unable to battle. Abomasnow wins, and the match goes to Freeze of Snowpoint City!" The crowd went absolutely wild as the battle concluded.

"And it's over, folks! Freeze pulls off an decisive win after a back-and-forth start and a near breakdown in the middle of the match! And all with nothing but Ice-type Pokemon! Watch out, folks, Freeze is one dangerous trainer!" the announcer exclaimed at the top of his lungs. Both trainers called their Pokemon back. Freeze just stood there, overcome with a sense of overwhelming victory. He stared up into the sky and thought to himself, "Lucas... it is done... I have avenged you. Now, all that is left is the goal of meeting Articuno. I will not fail you, I promise." He saw Roman headed towards the center of the field, so he did as well. At the field's center, Roman extended his hand.

"Excellent match. I'm impressed with your skill. Using nothing but Ice-types is a gutsy move," Roman complimented. Freeze returned the handshake.

"Yeah, I figured there'd be plenty of Pokemon out there ready to wall my prized Ice-types. That's why I train a variety of dual-type Ice Pokemon. That way, I can cover for Ice's general weaknesses," Freeze replied, proud of his Pokemon.

"That's a good variety you showed today. Tell me, though, what was up with you when I sent out my Bronzong?"

"That's a long story, I'm afraid".

"Fair enough. I'm heading off to heal my Pokemon now. I'll be rooting for you," Roman said as he turned around and went back in the tunnel. Freeze turned around to head back into the green tunnel. As he walked in, the cheers of the crowd would not cease. "Seems I've earned myself some fans," Freeze thought. He turned left towards the Pokemon Center when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Aidan standing right behind him. "Yes?" he asked.

"Great battle out there," Aidan said. "Just... try not to let your memories get the best of you next time, ok? I don't want to have to snap you out of it every time, ya hear?"

"Yeah yeah, I hear you. But seriously, thanks. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have won. That guy's Bronzong was one of the ones from Mt. Coronet when Lucas died. I recognized it by a little dent on its left side. It... paralyzed me out of fear. If it hadn't been for Tusk's instincts, Bronzong would've beaten it. And... if it hadn't been for you, I don't think I would've snapped out of it in time. You're the reason I won, Aidan. And for that..." he paused and then, in a rare moment of emotion (A/N: He only ever shows emotions when it's just him and Aidan... *eyebrow waggle*), he smiled a sincere smile. "I truly thank you. You've been a rock that I can lean on when I show weakness. I... I don't think I'd be where I am now without you. I know I've only known you for a few days, but somehow, I feel safe with you around. Safe from my own emotions and memories. I can't thank you enough..." Aidan smiled.

"You don't need to thank me. I'm just glad I can help you out". Aidan hugged Freeze tightly. Freeze returned the hug, just not as tightly. "Don't worry me like that bit out there again, please".

"Don't worry. I think I'll be ok now. And even so, you'll always be there to help me through".

"Never pegged you as a guy with a sweet side," Aidan joked.

"You learn something new every day, hm?" Freeze replied. Aidan just hugged him tighter. Freeze closed his eyes as he thought to himself, "I don't know what kind of twist of fate is doing this to me, but for the first time in ten years, I'm happy. I almost feel complete. Lucas... if you're watching me, know this. Your old brother is back... and he's happy again. I swear, I'll keep making you proud." Just around the corner, Roy, Lexi, and Damon spied on Freeze and Aidan.

"Aww, they look so cute together," Lexi commented.

"Man, I only just met you all, but you're one interesting group. I think I'll stick around," Damon said.

"Good choice," Roy replied. "There's never a dull moment with us around". Roy stuck his headphones in his ears and hit 'Play' on his iPod as a rather fitting song played. Roy hummed along with the lyrics: "I'll never let you go/If you promise not to fade away/Never fade away". They just looked on as Freeze and Aidan stayed in the hug for what seemed like an eternity.

**Author's Note: And that'll do it for this chapter. So, what do you all think? I think I did a pretty good job, especially with the battle scene. This chapter introduces yet another user-submitted OC: Roman Blane submitted by masked1. Roman will probably make a few more appearances in the story, but won't be a major character. So, after quite a battle, Freeze emerges victorious, but not without a little help from Aidan, who he seems to be getting increasingly attached to. Something's a-brewin' here, methinks... so yeah. Next time, more out-of-battle stuff to prepare for another battle. I'm debating on whether it's Lexi or Aidan next.**

**Fun Fact: The original title of this chapter was going to be 'A Fierce Battle' in reference to the song 'The Fierce Battle' from Final Fantasy VI. It was changed when I decided to use a better word to describe the battle.**

**Spot-the-reference time! There are two references in this chapter. One is a reference to a Pokemon game (hint: think older, non-mainstream titles) and the other is a song lyrics reference. See of you can get them.**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	11. A Surprise

**Author's Note: I got a surprise waiting for you in this chapter in the form of... well, you'll have to wait and see :P**

Chapter 8: A Surprise

Several hours after Freeze's battle had ended, the gang was dining at Grand Dragon Hotel's own restaurant. True to it's title of 'Grand', the food quality exceeded all expectations and tasted exquisite. Even Freeze, who normally never betrayed his thoughts on something outwardly, was thoroughly impressed and let the group know.

"Wow, I'm actually impressed with the food here," Freeze commented. "Hell of a lot better than anything around Snowpoint, that's a given".

"Ha, no offense, but Snowpoint's so out of the way there's _nothing_ out there," Roy remarked.

"None taken; I've lived out there my whole life," Freeze replied. The rest of the group chuckled along with Roy. Roy paid the bill when they finished and they headed up to their rooms. Damon got off on the sixth floor. Up on the seventh floor, the gang separated into their rooms and started relaxing. Roy had a few calls to make, Freeze had some things to think about, Aidan was just going to watch some TV, and Lexi just wanted to take it easy.

/

Roy scrolled through his contact list on the vid-phone and scrolled all the way down to Jasmine. He pressed 'dial' and waited for Jasmine to pick up. The phone rang for close to a minute until Jasmine answered.

"Olivine City Pokemon Gym. Leader Jasmine speaking".

"Hey Jaz, it's Roy; turn on the video". The screen flickered to life and Jasmine's face appeared.

"Hi Roy! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. You been watching the battles?"

"Yep. I just saw your friend Freeze win his match earlier. I have to say, if he were to challenge this gym, even I'd be hard-pressed to win, and I'm a Steel-type specialist".

"He does seem to be quite a formidable trainer. I really hope I get to face him in this tournament and some point".

"Ooh, I'd like to watch that battle. Heck, I'd close the gym just so I could watch it!" Roy chuckled at this.

"I don't know how likely it is to happen, but I'm really looking forward to it. Anyways, what's been going on back home?"

"Not much, really. It's been pretty quiet. Nobody is challenging the gym because they're busy watching the tournament, so I put in a request to take some time off to go watch it myself".

:They say anything yet?"

"They actually granted my request! I can come watch you now!"

"Awesome, Jaz! When are you gonna be here?"

"Two days! I'm packing at the moment, and the ship departs from Olivine Harbor late tomorrow night".

"Nice. Can't wait to see you again, Jaz".

"Same here. I miss you".

"I miss you too. I gotta call my mom now; she's probably worried about me as usual, haha".

"Haha, yeah. Well, I'll let you go so you can talk to your mom, then. See ya in a couple of days!"

:Yep, see ya then! Love you". Roy hung up. After the screen faded to black, the contact list loaded back up and Roy scrolled up to his mom and hit 'dial'. The phone rang for about ten seconds and Roy's mom, Kate, picked up.

"Hi Roy," she said.

"Hey mom, what's up?"

"Oh, not much. The city's been awfully quiet lately. I assume it's because they're all watching the tournament battles".

"Most likely. I just talked with Jasmine and she said the same thing".

"Well, she would know; I mean, she is the Gym Leader. So, how have you been doing?"

"Pretty good. Just keeping my Pokemon ready for the next round and watching battles at the stadium. They've been really good so far, and it's just the first round".

"I know, I've been watching a few of them myself. When I saw your battle, I was just... shocked to see how strong you've gotten. You really remind me of me when I was your age".

"You know, mom, I'm still yet to see your so-called 'battling skills'. You keep telling me stories of your travels and all that, but I wanna see some actual Pokemon battling. Mind if we have a quick match after the tournament is over?"

"Of course. I'm always willing to show my son the skills I gained on my journey".

"Excellent. Looking forward to it. Anyways, I was just calling to check in with you, see how you were doing. Figured you would be worried about me, like you always are".

"Yep, you know me, I'm a mom. I always worry about my son". A sound was heard. "Oops, getting an e-mail." Kate quickly checked her e-mail to see what it was. A look of pure shock appeared on her face.

"Mom, what's up?" Roy inquired.

"Check your e-mail, Roy". Roy took out his laptop and waited for it to boot up. When it did, he hurriedly opened his e-mail program and waited for the mail to download from the server. As the last e-mail came in, Roy's eyes widened in shock.

"No way... I thought she was dead... Sis?" The e-mail was listed as being from Roy's sister, Terra. Terra had gone missing seven years ago and was presumed dead by the chief of police in Olivine City. Now, there was her name, clear as day, listed as the sender of an e-mail just sent a few minutes ago. "Ok, mom, I'll talk to you later. I'm just... stunned now".

"Ok. Bye Roy," Kate said as she hung up. Roy quickly opened the e-mail from Terra. It read:

_Hi Roy. Believe it or not, it IS me, Terra. Remember the day I went missing? Well, some evil organization called Team Galactic got me. They operated out of the Sinnoh region. They tried to turn me into one of them, saying I could possibly be a commander. When I resisted, they locked me up. I was only freed thanks to the efforts of some of the Gym Leaders there and two boys named Diamond and Pearl. They both had a Pokedex, so I figured I was safe when they freed me. The Gym Leaders helped me escape from the Sinnoh region. I've been hiding out in Hoenn for a few years now. While I was there, I heard Team Galactic had been taken down and were no longer a threat, so I decided the time was right to start coming out of hiding. I didn't want to return to Olivine City just yet in case Team Galactic still had agents in other regions, but I found that they were strictly Sinnoh-only. So, I trained Pokemon while in Hoenn. I was hiding out in Littleroot Town, so I met Professor Birch there. He gave me a Pokemon to train so I could defend myself. Now, I have a full team! But that's beside the point. I went around Hoenn to keep training my Pokemon and just see what the region had to offer. It's been a few years since I've started doing that, and I've seem just about everything in Hoenn, so I decided it was time to let you guys know I was ok. I'll be home in about four days 'cause it's a long trip from Hoenn to Johto by boat._

_So Roy, I heard you got invited to some fancy tournament Lance was hosting. I managed to watch your battle from a TV in the Petalburg City Pokemon Center, and I gotta hand it to you. You've really gotten stronger since seven years ago. What I'm going to do is stop at home first, then come to that new Battle Hub and watch you battle. It's been so long since we last saw each other. I can't wait to catch up with you, bro. You can tell me all about your travels to every region out there. See you soon, bro._

_-Terra._

Roy just stared in utter disbelief. His sister had somehow escaped from the clutches of an evil organization and went into hiding for all that time? And here he was, led to believe that Terra was dead by that moron calling himself chief of police in Olivine. He silently cursed the Olivine chief of police for lying to him. Quick as a flash, Roy bolted out of the door and knocked on Freeze's, Aidan's, and Lexi's doors. Lexi was first out, then Aidan followed suit. Freeze took slightly more time to open his door.

"Yes?" Freeze said.

"You guys are not gonna believe this unless I show you, so come into my room real quick. I'll fill you in on a story," Roy said.

"Ok, let me grab my key here," Freeze replied. The girls grabbed their keys and went over into Roy's room. Freeze joined them soon after. Roy shut the door behind them and took a seat on his bed.

"All right, now that you're all here, I'll begin. Seven years ago, my sister Terra went missing".

"That's awful!" Lexi exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Nobody really knows for sure. Olivine's chief of police organized a search party, but was too much of a lazy bastard to go look himself. They searched for three days, but never found her. After a month, the chief presumed she was dead. Now, the chief is a lazy, arrogant moron. He always believes he makes the right choices and decisions. The only one who can keep him in check is the Mayor of Olivine. Anyways, that's beside the point. The only reason the chief called off the search and later presumed Terra to be dead was because he couldn't be bothered to deal with the search any longer".

"He sure sounds like a downright asshole," Freeze remarked.

"He is. Anyways, my mom and I just kept waiting for any news from any region hinting at Terra being alive. None ever came, and we started to lose hope. So we went about our daily lives. Mom works at the Poke Mart, so it's always busy, and since it was just me and her at home, I was pretty busy, too. On weekends, I always liked to go out to the beach right on the bay and go up onto the rocky ledges to get away from the hassle and crowd. While I was there, I'd always silently hope that Terra was still out there somewhere. Now, it's been seven long years since that all happened. I was just on the phone with my mom when she got an e-mail. She told me to check mine". He flipped up his laptop screen and showed them the e-mail Terra had sent. "Terra is still alive. Read the e-mail for the rest of the story". The group read through the e-mail and turned back to Roy. Aidan was the first to speak up.

"Wow, that's just... crazy," she said.

"Yeah, to think that she got kidnapped my that evil Team Galactic and managed to escape. And she's been in hiding all this time in Hoenn," Lexi commented.

"Team Galactic, eh?" Freeze started. "They tried some funny stuff around Snowpoint a few years ago. Said they were trying to wake the legends of the lakes of Sinnoh. Some guy named Pearl fought one of the commanders there, but Team Galactic got to the legend sleeping in Lake Acuity. It's a Pokemon called Uxie, known as the Being of Knowledge. They say that it can erase your memory if it opens its eyes and you stare at it". He paused briefly. "I was training on Mt. Coronet when Team Galactic ascended to it's true peak, the Spear Pillar. Their boss, I think his name was Cyrus, had some weird chain thing. The boys your sister mentioned, Diamond and Pearl, went up after them. Said something about stopping them from bringing out the ones who created the Sinnoh region: Dialga and Palkia. Obviously, they succeeded in stopping Team Galactic. But yeah, I was there when that all happened".

"Wow... that's some crazy stuff," Roy said.

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy, all right. Put on an impressive light show there".

"Anyways, point is, I'm just stunned that my sister is still alive," Roy continued once Freeze was finished. "She's coming here in a few days. Man, it's been seven years since I last saw her. Am I gonna even recognize her?"

"I'm sure you will," Aidan said. "Family bonds have a funny way of doing things sometimes".

"I suppose you're right," Roy replied.

"Well, I gotta get back to my room. I have a battle later tomorrow,: Lexi said. "Gotta plan for it. Don't wanna lose".

"Yeah, you get on that," Roy said. "Hate to see friends lose in battle". With that, Lexi left. Freeze got up next.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep soon," he said, stifling a yawn. He left after stretching. Aidan then got up.

"I want to keep watching the last battle going on tonight, so I'm heading back," she said.

"Alright then," Roy replied. Once Aidan had left, Roy bolted over to his laptop and starting writing a reply to Terra.

_Hey Terra! Good Lord, it's been seven years since we thought we lost you. Mom and I were worried sick! Abducted by Team Galactic, hm? A friend of mine that I just made here at the tournament said he was around when Team Galactic went up Mt. Coronet to awaken Dialga and Palkia. You said the Gym Leaders helped rescue you? I wonder what the Gym Leaders are like. I spent a little time in the Sinnoh region, but never saw any of the Gym Leaders. And how did Hoenn treat you? Well, I suppose it would be better to hold my questions until you get to the Battle Hub. Cannot wait to see you again, sis. Let me know when you're close so I can come meet you at the docks or wherever._

_-Roy._

Roy pressed 'send' and waited for the server to send the message. He turned the TV on to watch the last battle of the day. It didn't keep his interest for long, though, so he switched the channel to the local news. He closed his eyes and thought about what he could do in his next battle even though he didn't know who his opponent was yet.

/

Night came and went like a speeding train for Roy. He was up at seven-thirty sharp and out of the shower by seven-forty-five. He met up with the gang in the lobby and ate breakfast with them. Today, they were to pretty much just watch battles while Lexi prepared for hers. Once they finished breakfast, Lexi headed straight out the door to finish her preparations. Roy and Damon soon left the building to get good seats at the stadium, leaving Freeze and Aidan alone... again.

"So, any plans for the day?" Aidan asked.

"No, not really. Just gonna take it easy and relax today. I'm awfully tired," Freeze replied.

"Right. I was just thinking maybe we could do some things separate from the group today".

"We'll see, depends on how tired I am".

"Oh come on, you just got up half an hour ago. Get over it," Aidan teased.

"Whatever. I guess I'm up for going places. Where were you planning to go?"

"Oh, just around the Battle Hub. I haven't really gotten a chance to check this place out," Aidan said.

"Fair enough," Freeze replied. "Where to first, though?"

"Doesn't really matter. We've basically got the whole day. Lexi doesn't battle until this evening".

"Right. Well, I suggest just exploring the place then".

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. We don't know the place too well, so it would do some good to explore outside of the hotel and stadium".

"Yes, it would". With that, they left the hotel to just explore the Battle Hub. The Battle Hub had tons of practice fields for trainers to use to practice their battling skills and train their Pokemon against other trainers. The shops lining the streets sold all manner of Pokemon merchandise. Some were just regular Poke Marts with essential items for trainers, but most of the shops sold exclusive merchandise for the tournament that would never be seen outside of the Battle Hub. Freeze found no interesting items in any of the shop windows, so he just continued past every shop. Aidan would stop occasionally to take a look at something that caught her attention, but there was nothing she really wanted to buy. The two were getting bored of just exploring, so they decided to head to one of the practice fields and see if anyone was there. The closest practice field was only a block or two away, so they got there quickly. There were a few trainers with their Pokemon out either having a practice battle or in a corner practicing moves. Freeze and Aidan took a look around the field and went on themselves. Some of the trainers took a break from what they were doing to regard them. One trainer came up to Freeze.

"Hey, you're that guy from yesterday that used all those Ice Pokemon, aren't you?" the trainer said. The trainer was a girl who looked about 14 years of age. She had long, royal purple hair tied up into a high ponytail and had hair clips similar to a Shaymin's flowers on both sides of her head. Her eyes were sky blue. She wore a lightweight, cotton white summer dress, metallic gladiator sandals, green bangles, and a bright red sarong since the bottom of her dress was torn. Around her neck was a black necklace made of coral. She was gracefully slim, making for a very elegant look. She had a large scar running down her back.

"Yeah, I'm that guy with the Ice-types. What of it?" Freeze replied.

"I just wanna say that's a real gutsy move, going with just one type of Pokemon," the girl replied. "Oh, right, forgot to introduce myself. My name's Miki. Miki Lee Sunshine. Just call me Mik for short. And you are?"

"Just call me Freeze".

"I'm his friend, Aidan. Nice to meet you, Miki".

"Nice to meet you two, too. Hey, one of you want to have a practice battle with me? I have a battle later today and I need to get ready for it".

"Sure," Freeze replied. "We've both got the time. Take your pick".

"Hmm..." Miki deliberated. "How about Aidan? Freeze, you just don't look like you really want to battle at the moment, so no offense meant".

"None taken. You're right, I'm not really in the mood for battling at the moment. Well, Aidan, get on out there". Aidan stepped forward.

"So, what are the rules gonna be, Mik?" she asked.

"Two on two, no time limit, no substitutions. I've got these two Pokemon I'm really wanting to use in my battle, so I'm gonna use them to make sure they're ready".

"Ok, sounds good to me. Freeze, you mind refereeing?"

"Ok." Freeze took his place at the side of the field. "Ok, so as Miki explained, this will be a two on two battle with no time limit and no substitutions. Select your first Pokemon".

"Ok, Golduck, show 'em what you've got!" Miki tossed a Poke Ball and a blue duck Pokemon with a red jewel on its forehead emerged.

"Mightyena, go get 'em!" Aidan tossed out her Poke Ball and a black dog Pokemon emerged. Mightyena barked and prepared for battle.

"Mightyena vs. Golduck. Begin". Freeze lowered his arms and the battle was underway.

"Ok, Golduck, start off with an Ice Beam!" Miki called. Golduck opened its mouth and shot a cold beam of energy at Mightyena.

"Mightyena, dodge and use Shadow Ball!" Mightyena ran to the right to dodge the Ice Beam and fired a dark blob at Golduck.

"Golduck, charge right at it with Aqua Jet!" Golduck cloaked itself in water and rocketed through the air, colliding with the Shadow Ball and successfully pushing it back.

"Mightyena, Thunder Fang!" Mightyena's fangs crackled with electricity as it charged at Golduck. It pierced through the shield of water and bit Golduck on the tail. Golduck screamed in pain as the shield of water dissipated and the Shadow Ball flew harmlessly away.

"Quick, use Fury Swipes!" Golduck launched itself at Mightyena and swiped at it multiple times.

"Dodge it and use Dark Pulse!" Mightyena went to dodge and sent out a wave of dark energy. Golduck jumped over it, though.

"Brick Break!" Golduck's fist glowed white and it brought it down on Mightyena's head. Mightyena howled in pain.

"Shadow Ball! Then follow it up with Thunder Fang!" Mightyena fired a Shadow Ball, then electrified its fangs and charged.

"Hydro Pump!" Golduck loosed a high-pressure blast of water that swallowed the Shadow Ball whole and slammed into Mightyena. Mightyena struggled to get up, but did.

"Dark Pulse!" Mightyena loosed a wave of dark energy.

"Jump over it and use Brick Break!" Golduck swiftly jumped over the wave of energy and brought its fist down. Aidan smiled as her plan had worked to perfection.

"Now! Thunder Fang!" As Golduck brought its fist down, Mightyena bit it with its electrified fangs. Golduck yelped as the electricity coursed through its body. Golduck dropped to the ground as it struggled to get up. "Finish it with Shadow Ball!" The dark blob slammed Golduck hard and it stopped moving.

"Golduck is unable to battle. Mightyena is the winner," Freeze said, raising his right arm.

"Thanks, Golduck. Return," Miki said as she called Golduck back. "Ok, Magmar, show 'em what you've got!" The ball burst open and the Spitfire Pokemon emerged. It let out a burst of flame and it readied itself.

"Mightyena vs. Magmar. Begin".

"Magmar, show 'em your Flamethrower!" Magmar loosed a blast of scorching hot fire.

"Mightyena, dodge and use Dark Pulse!" Mightyena dodged to the left and released the wave of dark energy.

"Magmar, counter it with Lava Plume!" Magmar unleashed a wave of scarlet flames to counter the Dark Pulse attack. "Now, Fire Punch!" Magmar's fist burst into flames and it charged at Mightyena.

"Quick, Shadow Ball!" Mightyena shot a Shadow Ball at Magmar, but the Spitfire Pokemon swatted it aside with its Fire Punch. It continued charging and scored a big hit on Mightyena. The dog Pokemon hit the ground and couldn't get back up.

"Mightyena is unable to battle. Magmar is the winner". Freeze raised his left hand.

"Return, Mightyena". Aidan called Mightyena back and quickly pulled out another Poke Ball. "Electivire, go get 'em!" The Thunderbolt Pokemon burst from the ball. It let out a battle cry and set itself in position.

"Electivire vs. Magmar. Begin".

"Kick this one off with ThunderPunch!" Electivire charged at Magmar with an electrified fist.

"Counter with Fire Punch!" Magmar ignited one of its own fists and charged at Electivire. The punches connected and knocked both Pokemon back a little. Electivire was shaking its hand, and Aidan could see why.

"Oh no, Electivire got burned!"

"Yep. Magmar has an ability called Flame Body. Sometimes, if it gets hit with a direct attack like that, it'll burn the opponent. It's a pretty nifty ability".

"Nngh... this isn't good. Electivire is more of a physical fighter, and burns reduce physical attack power significantly, so I'm gonna have a tough time winning," Aidan thought. She called out an attack. "Use Thunderbolt!" Electivire loosed a powerful blast of electricity.

"Counter with Flamethrower!" Magmar shot a Flamethrower at the Thunderbolt. The attacks collided and canceled each other out. "Now, Smokescreen!" Magmar generated a ton of smoke from its body and clouded the field with it, rendering Electivire unable to see.

"Electivire, Earthquake!" Electivire stomped the ground and sent shockwaves rippling through it.

"Jump, Magmar!" Magmar leaped over the shockwaves produced by the Earthquake.

"Now, Thunderbolt!" Electivire blasted a Thunderbolt attack at where a glow in the smoke could be seen and scored a direct hit on Magmar. The cover of the Smokescreen had backfired on Miki.

"Ok, Magmar, we're going all out now. Use Lava Plume!" Magmar unleashed a wave of scarlet flames.

"Electivire, counter with Thunderbolt!" The blast of electricity cut through the Lava Plume, but didn't cancel it out, so it still struck. Electivire looked tired out from the attacks it was taken compounded with the burn, so Miki decided the time was right to end it.

"All right, Magmar, Sunny Day!" Magmar raised its arms to the sky and the sun began to intensify. The blistering heat drenched everyone in their sweat. "Now, finish it, Magmar! Flamethrower!" Magmar blasted a Flamethrower at Electivire, boosted in power and intensity by the intense sunlight. Electivire took a direct hit from Flamethrower and was instantly knocked out.

"Electivire is unable to battle. Magmar is the winner, and Miki wins the battle," Freeze said, raising his left arm. The sunlight returned to normal and the trainers called their Pokemon back.

"Hey, that was a great battle!" Miki said to Aidan. "Electivire really hung in there! I didn't think I'd have to resort to using a sun-boosted Flamethrower attack".

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting a Sunny Day boost there. I figured you were just gonna go right in with Flamethrower, which I could've countered with Thunderbolt. Well, good thing I don't battle in the tournament today, right? I still have some training to do," Aidan replied.

"Yeah, probably a good thing you're not battling today. Well, now I know Golduck and Magmar are battle-ready. Thanks for that. They really needed that last bit of training".

"Hey, no problem. Looks like you're gonna give whoever your opponent is a run for their money, at least".

"I sure hope so. I heard my opponent is pretty tough. But oh well, at least I can try my best in battle. I gotta go rest up my Pokemon now so I can get to the stadium. See you around!" Miki headed to the Pokemon Center to heal her Pokemon with a bounce in her step as she anticipated her battle. Freeze walked over to Aidan.

"Not bad out there. She just outplayed you there, is all," he said.

"Yeah, I got outplayed pretty badly. I gotta come up with some new strategies," Aidan replied.

":She did get kinda lucky with that burn on Electivire, though. Personally, I thought that burn changed the entire battle 'cause it forced you to rely on Electivire's lower Special Attack. So, in essence, just beware of burns when using a physical attacker".

"Yeah, burns can be pretty pesky in battle. They hurt and lower Attack, which is ten times worse than being poisoned".

"Well, if it's a Toxic sort of poison, then they're kinda the same in terms of annoyance, if you ask me".

"Maybe so. Either way, all status conditions are pesky in some way, shape, or form, it seems".

"Yep". Freeze checked his phone for the time. "I think we should start heading towards the stadium now. Lexi's battle starts in a little under an hour, and all the seats will be filled in the next fifteen minutes".

"Oh shoot, guess we'd better get going then. I didn't realize we'd spent so much time out here just exploring and then battling here, haha! Anyways, I'm just glad we got to spend the day together".

"I'm just glad we got away from the stadium for a bit. It's always cool to explore new places. And I guess I didn't mind having you around either". Aidan slugged Freeze in the arm.

"And just what's that supposed to mean?"

"I think I'll leave that open to interpretation," Freeze deadpanned. Aidan rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Come on, let's go to the stadium. Don't want to miss Lexi's battle, do we?"

"Yeah yeah, I hear you. Let's go". They walked off of the practice field towards the stadium, the sun setting on the horizon. They were walking much closer to each other than normal this time. Freeze was the only one who noticed, and he decided not to dwell on it, instead thinking about his goal to meet Articuno and make Lucas proud, though he did occasionally blush when Aidan accidentally brushed her hand up against his. Once they made it to the stadium, they met up with Roy and Damon, who had saved seats for them. Eagerly, they all awaited the announcement of the next battle.

**Author's Note: Chapter complete. And the big surprise was a new OC from me! Roy's sister, Terra Ashford, is now a part of the story. The description will come when she physically appears in the story. The idea came to me while listening to Final Fantasy VI music, so she's inspired by Terra from FFVI (note to self: listening to so much FFVI music will do that to you). Also, a new user-submitted OC was introduced: Miki Lee Sunshine submitted by Gosalyn2007. She'll be around in this story a few times. Anyways, so this was half out-of-battle and half in-battle as Aidan has a practice battle with Miki. Not much else to explain down here, haha. Next time, Lexi will engage in battle. Haven't done much involving Lexi, so it's time to have her battle.**

**Still looking for somebody to get the references I made in the previous chapter. Post your answers in a review.**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	12. Fight On!

**Author's note: Lexi's opponent is not going to be a user-submitted OC. I don't have enough OC's to work with to have a user-submitted OC be the opponent in every round.**

Chapter 9: Fight On!

The crowd cheered loudly as the time came to introduce the battlers in the next match. Several good battles had been fought earlier in the day, and the crowd was hungry for more.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to introduce the trainers who will be fighting it out in the next battle!" the announcer said. The crowd cheered even louder. "In the green corner, hailing from Nuvema Town in Unova, is a trainer known in Unova as not only a tough trainer, but also a great DJ. You'll want to hire her for your parties 'cause she knows what beats are hot. Plus, she never misses a beat in battle either. Ladies and gentlemen, Lexi Redstone!" Lexi walked out of the green tunnel to the roar of the crowd. Her cherry-red DJ headphones rattled around her neck as she walked to her spot on the battlefield.

"Now, in the red corner, hailing from the small town on Three Island of the Sevii Islands, is a new face on the scene. Nobody knows much about him since he's from such a remote location, but don't that that fool you, because it's the unknown that can end up making you pay. Please give a warm welcome to Mike Harvey!" A young man of about 19 stepped out of the red tunnel. His skin was tan thanks to the stunning weather on Three Island. His emerald-green eyes showed calmness even on an international stage such as this. His hair was short and blond. He wore an emerald-green t-shirt to match his eyes and denim shorts. On his feet were a pair of sand-colored sandals. He took his spot on the field and the referee walked out to the center, beckoning Lexi and Mike.

"Trainers, introduce yourselves before battle," the referee said, a commanding tone in his voice. Mike extended his hand first.

"Mike Harvey, Three Island. You're a DJ, huh? Guess I'll have to hire you for the beach parties we sometimes have in the area," Mike said. Lexi shook Mike's hand.

"Lexi Redstone, Nuvema Town. We'll see about that offer to DJ out there; I'm pretty busy all the time," she replied. They broke the handshake and returned to their ends of the field. The referee stepped back to the side.

"Trainers ready?"

"Ready," both Mike and Lexi replied.

"Select your Pokemon!"

"Duchess, you're on!" Lexi called as she tossed out a Poke Ball. The ball burst open and a Serperior emerged from the light. The snake-like Pokemon struck a regal pose as it waited.

"All right then, Kangaskhan, let's go!" Mike tossed his Poke Ball and a kangaroo-like Pokemon burst from the light. It readied itself as the battle was set to begin.

"Serperior vs. Kangaskhan. Begin!" The referee raised his flags and the battle was underway.

"Duchess, let's start off with one of our favorite jams. Use Leaf Blade!" Lexi called. The leaves on Serperior's tail grew and glowed green. Serperior swung its tail at Kangaskhan.

"Counter that with Fire Punch!" Mike commanded. Kangaskhan's fist ignited and it aimed a punch at the incoming Serperior. Kangaskhan's fist and Serperior's tail connected, resulting it what looked like a stalemate. Serperior was wincing in pain, however, at the super-effective Fire attack it was clashing with.

"Ok, that didn't work. Duchess, get back to our side," Lexi ordered. Serperior broke off the attack and Kangaskhan's fist punched the ground. Serperior returned to its side of the field. "Now, Coil!" Serperior coiled its body around itself as is focused on the recovering Kangaskhan.

"Kangaskhan, use Aerial Ace!" Kangaskhan geared up for an extremely fast attack, but Lexi ordered a counter for it.

"Duchess, counter with an Aerial Ace of your own!" Serperior used its coiled body like a springboard and launched itself at Kangaskhan. The attacks collided, but Kangaskhan was sent flying backwards thanks to the power boost Serperior received from Coil. Kangaskhan got back up.

"Give it a Mega Punch!" Kangaskhan charged at Serperior with its powerful fist ready to deliver a solid punch.

"Double Team!" Serperior nodded and created clones of itself. Kangaskhan stopped in its tracks as it attempted to discern the real one from the fakes. "Coil!" All of the clones and the real Serperior coiled their bodies, further complicating the illusion. Mike didn't want to have to figure out the illusion, so he ordered for something that would break through it with no problem.

"Aerial Ace! They won't even see it coming!" Kangaskhan took off from his spot in the center of all the clones and started taking them out one by one at breakneck pace. Lexi saw Kangaskhan headed right for the real Serperior and ordered an attack.

"Leaf Blade!" The real Serperior jumped from the other side of the field as Kangaskhan went around the circle of clones searching for it. The clones disappeared and Kangaskhan stopped. Just as Lexi had planned, Serperior's Leaf Blade struck home. Kangaskhan uttered a cry of pain as it stumbled backwards. The Leaf Blade had scored a critical hit. Lexi did a small fist pump when she noticed. "Let's finish this one with some style. Aerial Ace!" Serperior launched itself at the reeling Kangaskhan, but the kangaroo-like Pokemon wasn't out of it yet.

"Give it all you've got, Kangaskhan! Outrage!" Kangaskhan suddenly began rampaging everywhere and slammed into Serperior. The grass-type snake Pokemon slithered back to an upright position as it eyed the rampaging Kangaskhan.

"Double Team when it gets close!" Serperior focused on Kangaskhan, who was drawing closer. At the last moment, Serperior flashed and created more clones of itself. Kangaskhan couldn't slow down and passed right through a clone, smashing into a wall. "Now, while it's recovering, Leaf Blade!" The real Serperior sprang out from the clones and swung its tail at Kangaskhan. It scored a direct hit, and combined with the damage from hitting the wall, Kangaskhan fell to the ground.

"Kangaskhan is unable to battle. Serperior wins!" The referee raised his green flag.

"Nice job, Kangaskhan. Take a good, long rest now," Mike said as he returned Kangaskhan. He took out another Poke Ball and threw it out. "Venomoth, let's go!" The ball opened and a pinkish-purple moth Pokemon emerged.

"Serperior vs. Venomoth. Begin!"

"Venomoth, give it a taste of your Bug Buzz attack!" Venomoth rapidly beat its wings and a horrible, grating noise echoed through the stadium. People in the crowd ran for the concourse and covered their ears as the horrid sound continued to echo. On the field, Serperior was blown back by the force of the sound waves. Not even Serperior was spared the harshness of the sound as it went down.

"Serperior is unable to battle. Venomoth wins!" The referee raised his red flag.

"Wow, what an impressive turn of events, folks! After a hard-fought skirmish between Kangaskhan and Serperior, Venomoth comes in and wins with just one attack!" the announcer exclaimed.

"Nice job, Duchess. Take a break now," Lexi said as she called Serperior back. She took out another Poke Ball and threw it out. "Ty, show 'em how we roll!" The ball opened and a Togekiss emerged from the light.

"Togekiss vs. Venomoth. Begin!"

"Right, this isn't a great matchup for Venomoth. Try a Psychic attack!" Venomoth's eyes glowed blue as it attempted to control Togekiss.

"Not on my watch! Use Heat Wave, Ty!" Togekiss loosed a blast of hot air.

"Quick Venomoth, Agility to dodge!" Venomoth lightened its body and zipped to the side to avoid the Heat Wave. "I gotta get you out of there. Baton Pass!" A light from Venomoth's Poke Ball shot out and returned Venomoth, passing on the speed boost from Agility to the next Pokemon.

"Oh, a Pokemon switch! What does Mike plan to choose next?" the announcer said.

"Raichu, let's go!" Mike tossed the Poke Ball and a large orange mouse Pokemon emerged.

"Togekiss vs. Raichu. Begin!"

"Ok, Raichu, start off with Thunderbolt!" Raichu loosed a blast of electricity at Togekiss.

"Dodge it and use Aura Sphere, Ty!" Togekiss leaned to the right to dodge the Thunderbolt, then fired a sphere of pure energy at Raichu. Raichu jumped over the Aura Sphere.

"ThunderPunch!" Raichu electrified one of its fists and descended towards Togekiss.

"Heat Wave! Keep it away!" Togekiss fired a blast of hot air that blew Raichu out of the sky.

"Keep at it Raichu. Use Thunderbolt!" A blast of electricity was loosed as Togekiss finished firing the Heat Wave and hit hard. Togekiss struggled to say airborne.

"Don't give in, Ty. Try Water Pulse!" Togekiss fired a pulsing wave of water at Raichu. Mike just smirked.

"Thanks for the conductor. Thunderbolt!" Raichu blasted a Thunderbolt at the Water Pulse. Which had barely left Togekiss' mouth. It made contact and skipped over it, striking Togekiss hard and knocking it to the ground.

"Togekiss is unable to battle. Raichu wins!"

"Rats. Ty, return," Lexi said and called Togekiss back. She pulled out another Poke Ball and put a serious look on her face. "Now it's time to rock and roll. Liepard, you're on!" The ball opened and a purple cat with yellowish fur on its underside emerged. It let out a yawn and stretched as it prepared for battle.

"Liepard vs. Raichu. Begin!"

"Start off with a Shadow Ball!" Liepard formed a dark blob in its mouth and shot it at Raichu. The electric mouse jumped over it.

"ThunderPunch!" Raichu's fist electrified as it descended. The mouse brought it down to punch, but Lexi was prepared for this.

"Night Slash!" Just as Raichu brought down its fist, Liepard dashed out of the way and sneaked up behind it. It slashed at the mouse and scored a direct hit to the back. Raichu hit the ground with the wind knocked out of it. It recovered after a short while and was ready to fight again.

"All right then, Brick Break!" Raichu charged forward with its fist glowing white.

"Hone Claws, then Night Slash again!" Liepard took out its claws and sharpened them against each other as Raichu came charging in with a super-effective attack ready. Then, Liepard jumped up and struck with Night Slash. Raichu parried the attack with its Brick Break. "No stalemate is gonna keep Liepard down. Shadow Ball!" Liepard shot the dark blob from its mouth. At close range, it knocked Raichu back several feet after sustaining a fairly heave blow. Raichu shook its head and readied itself again.

"Thunderbolt!" A blast of electricity was launched as Raichu's cheeks sparked violently.

"Dodge it!" Liepard used its natural quickness to dash out of the way. "Shadow Ball, one more time!" Liepard launched the Shadow Ball. "Now follow it up with Night Slash!" The cat Pokemon rushed at the mouse, following the Shadow Ball.

"Jump!" Raichu jumped over the Shadow Ball with ease. "Now, Grass Knot!" Raichu's eyes glowed green as it formed a clump of grass right in Liepard's path. Liepard tripped over the clump of knotted grass. "Now, descend with Brick Break!"

"Quick, Liepard, Shadow Ball!" Liepard quickly turned it's head to fire a Shadow Ball at Raichu. Just as Raichu brought its fist down, Liepard launched its Shadow Ball. A cloud of dust kicked up as the attacks collided. When the dust cleared, both Pokemon were up and facing each other, but panting heavily.

"ThunderPunch!" Mike ordered. Raichu charged at Liepard with its electrified fist.

"Night Slash!" Lexi called. Liepard rushed at Raichu with it's sharp claws poised to strike. Liepard's attack connected first, clawing Raichu in the chest. Raichu's ThunderPunch nailed Liepard in the face. Both Pokemon were flung backwards, exhausted bu the long battle and unable to get up.

"Both Raichu and Liepard are unable to battle. It's a double knockout!" the referee said as he raised both flags. Both trainers called their Pokemon back and chose their next ones. Mike sent his out first.

"Venomoth, get back out there!" Venomoth re-entered the battle, clearly ready to fight.

"That won't get you far this time. Ninetales, show 'em how we do it!" The ball burst open to reveal an off-white fox Pokemon with nine tails and red eyes.

"Ninetales vs. Venomoth. Begin!"

"Ninetales end this before it can even start! Fire Blast!" The fox Pokemon howled and unleashed a scorching hot blast of intense fire at the Poison Moth Pokemon. Venomoth quickly dodges, however.

"Use Psychic!" Venomoth's eyes glowed as it lifted Ninetales.

"Try to break free with Hidden Power!" Orbs of light circled around Ninetales as it attempted to break Venomoth's telekinetic hold. With enough willpower, Ninetales fired the orbs at Venomoth. Upon impact, the orbs crackled with electricity. Ninetales' inner Hidden Power was an Electric-type attack. Venomoth lost its focus and its Psychic was interrupted, releasing Ninetales.

"Venomoth, use Agility to run circles around it!" Venomoth zipped all around the stadium, making it impossible for Ninetales to spot it.

"Calm yourself, Ninetales. Think of a way to intercept it. Try Nasty Plot," Lexi called out. Ninetales closed its eyes as it formulated a plan to take out Venomoth. An evil grin broke across the fox's face as it finished plotting. "All right, Fire Blast when you're ready". Ninetales waited for the perfect moment to strike. Venomoth began to slow down a bit as it approached the stadium wall, and Ninetales executed its plan, launching a Fire Blast right at it. Right as Venomoth stopped to change directions, the Fire Blast connected, roasting Venomoth alive. Venomoth fell to the ground, badly burnt ans unable to continue.

"Venomoth is unable to battle. Ninetales wins!"

"Return, Venomoth. You did great," Mike said as he called Venomoth back. He smiled as he took out his next Poke Ball and called across the field to Lexi. "You're good. I haven't had to bring this guy out much except against good opponents. Gyarados, let's go!" The ball burst open and a massive sea serpent emerged. Gyarados loosed a ferocious roar and eyed Ninetales. Its intimidating glare spooked Ninetales a bit.

"Ninetales vs. Gyarados. Begin!"

"Hydro Pump, Gyarados!" The sea serpent Pokemon blasted a high-pressure stream of water at Ninetales.

"Quick, out of the way!" Ninetales jumped to the right and dodged the Hydro Pump. "Hidden Power!" Ninetales gathered the orbs of light and launched them at Gyarados. The sea serpent took the attack head on since it couldn't dodge easily and took considerable damage from the electrical orbs of light.

"Give it an Earthquake, Gyarados!" Gyarados smashed the ground with its tail and sent shockwaves rippling through it.

"Jump!" Ninetales jumped over the shockwaves, but Mike had other plans.

"Stone Edge!" Gyarados summoned sharp stones below Ninetales and stabbed at the fox. Ninetales was knocked out of the air. It hit the ground with a thud and didn't get back up.

"Ninetales is unable to battle. Gyarados is the winner!"

"Return, Ninetales," Lexi said and returned Ninetales. "I guess I underestimated you, Mike. Now it's time for an entirely different beat. Gladiator, amp it up!" The ball burst open and the yellow and black Thunderbolt Pokemon, Electivire, emerged, ready to rock Gyarados' world.

"Electivire vs. Gyarados. Begin!"

"Gladiator, lead with a ThunderPunch!" Electivire charged at Gyarados with an electrified fist.

"Don't let it get close! Earthquake!" Gyarados loosed a quake with its tail.

"Jump over it, Gladiator! And bring down that ThunderPunch quickly!" Electivire launched itself with its momentum into the air and straight at Gyarados. Before the sea serpent could react, the ThunderPunch had scored a direct hit, severely weakening it. Gyarados recoiled in pain.

"We're not gonna lose to that thing! Gyarados, Dragon Dance!" Gyarados, after recovering, performed an odd dance. A red aura engulfed it, and when it faded, Gyarados looked a bit stronger and faster. "Now, Hydro Pump!" Gyarados launched the Hydro Pump with greater speed than the last one it fired.

"Quick, dodge it!" Electivire dove out of the way. "Now, ThunderPunch again!" Electivire dashed straight at Gyarados.

"Dodge!" Gyarados avoided the punch with alarming speed from the Dragon Dance boost. "Now, Stone Edge!" The sea serpent summoned sharp stones to stab at Electivire.

"Swat them away with Cross Chop!" Electivire crossed its arms as they glowed white. When the stones drew near, the Thunderbolt Pokemon brought down its arms in a cross pattern and blocked the stones.

"Now, while it's distracted, use Hydro Pump!" Gyarados blasted the stream of water at Electivire.

"Quick, fling the rocks away, then use ThunderPunch on the Hydro Pump!" Electivire managed to stop the stones with Cross Chop, then electrified its fist and punched at the Hydro Pump. Its fist stopped the attack dead in its tracks. Electricity from Electivire's fist began traveling against the current of the Hydro Pump and worked upstream towards Gyarados.

"Quick, break off the Hydro Pump!" Gyarados stopped blasting water, but it was too late. The electricity leaped out and zapped Gyarados into submission.

"Gyarados is unable to battle. Electivire wins!"

"Nice job, Gyarados. Return," Mike said as he called Gyarados back. He took out his second-to-last Poke Ball and tossed it out. "Exeggutor, let's go!" The ball opened and a Pokemon that had three egg-shaped heads and looked like a thick palm tree appeared.

"Electivire vs. Exeggutor. Begin!"

"Exeggutor, lead off with Sleep Powder!" Exeggutor scattered a cloud of sleep-inducing spores.

"Burn 'em up with the heat from your Fire Punch, Gladiator!" Electivire's fist ignited and it punched forward, throwing out the flames like a fireball at the cloud of spores. The Sleep Powder cloud burned up. "Now, charge at it with Fire Punch!" Electivire ignited its fist again and rushed at Exeggutor.

"Use Psyshock!" An odd wave of psychic energy materialized in front of Exeggutor and homed in on Electivire. Electivire took the hit and got knocked back. Lexi noticed that Electivire took more damage that it usually did from a special attack.

"What the...?" she said. "That attack looked like it did more damage that a normal special attack would to an Electivire".

"Ah, you see, that's why Psyshock is so good," Mike explained. "Psyshock is still based on the user's Special Attack stat, but instead of the target's Special Defense factoring in, Psyshock goes for the regular defense stat is if it were a physical attack! Quite an interesting move, don't you think?"

"Hmm... Electivire won't be able to take many more of those given its lower physical Defense," Lexi thought. She held out Electivire's Poke Ball and called out. "Gladiator, return!"

"Oh, now Lexi is switching Pokemon! She only had one other Pokemon remaining. What's it gonna be?" the announcer said. Lexi put Electivire's Poke Ball away and pulled out her last one.

"Gallade, show 'em how it's done!" The ball opened and out came the Blade Pokemon. It held its bladed arms in a ready stance as it prepared to face Exeggutor.

"Gallade vs. Exeggutor. Begin!"

"Gallade, get in there and use X-Scissor!" Gallade rushed straight at Exeggutor and prepared to bring its blades down in an X shape.

"Exeggutor, Leaf Storm!" Exeggutor lowered its heads and whipped up a massive storm of sharp leaves. Gallade was caught in the middle of it and sustained heavy damage. The Blade Pokemon was not about to give up, however, and pressed on when the storm died down, bringing down its blades on Exeggutor. The palm tree-like Pokemon took a heavy blow due to its typing of Grass and Psychic being exceptionally weak to a Bug-type attack like X-Scissor.

"Exeggutor, use Synthesis!" Exeggutor began to glow as it used the lights of the stadium in an attempt to heal itself.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. X-Scissor again!" Gallade brought down the X-Scissor before Exeggutor even had a chance to begin healing. Exeggutor stumbled around before finally collapsing.

"Exeggutor is unable to battle. Gallade wins!"

"Good job, Exeggutor. Take a rest now," Mike said as he returned Exeggutor. Down to his last Pokemon, he grew serious as he took out his final Poke Ball. "Here goes nothing. Arcanine, it's up to you!" He tossed the Poke Ball and a red dog with black stripes and white tufts of fur emerged. It howled as it readied itself.

"Gallade vs. Arcanine. Begin!"

"Arcanine, Flare Blitz!" The dog Pokemon cloaked itself in fire and charged straight at Gallade.

"Jump over it and retaliate with Psycho Cut!" As Arcanine charged in, Gallade leaped over the flaming dog and landed behind it. Arcanine screeched to a halt and reversed directions. Gallade formed a blade of psychic energy and attacked Arcanine. Arcanine hadn't built up enough speed to counter, so it got knocked back.

"Give it a Thunder Fang!" Arcanine's fangs crackled with electricity and it took off after Gallade again.

"Brick Break as it approaches!" Gallade's arm glowed white and it aimed for Arcanine's head. Arcanine broke off its attack midway, though, and started charging something else. "Uh oh, I think that's a Solarbeam!" Lexi thought. "Quick, Gallade, give it a Stone Edge!" Gallade summoned sharp stones to stab at Arcanine.

"Arcanine, fire Solarbeam!" Arcanine loosed a powerful beam of light that pierced the stones and sent Gallade flying. Gallade hit the ground and didn't move.

"Gallade is unable to battle. Arcanine wins!" Lexi bit her lip in nervousness. She recalled Gallade and took out Electivire's Poke Ball

"Gladiator, rock 'em!" Electivire re-entered the battle and motioned its hand in a 'bring it on' gesture to Arcanine. Arcanine growled in response.

"Electivire vs. Arcanine. Begin!"

"Use Earthquake, Gladiator!" Electivire stomped the ground and caused a quake. Shockwaves rippled through the ground.

"Jump, Arcanine!" Arcanine leaped over the shockwaves. "Now use Flare Blitz!" Coating itself in flames, Arcanine charged.

"Build up momentum and launch a ThunderPunch!" Electivire dashed towards Arcanine with its electrified fist. The immediate force of the punch knocked Arcanine back several feet.

"Ok, that didn't quite work. Use ExtremeSpeed!" Arcanine took off like a jet, slamming into Electivire at blinding speed. Nobody even saw Arcanine move. "Yeah, that's right, no more playing around. Arcanine can move so fast that it looks like it never even moved. How can you beat a Pokemon that fast?"

"I'll tell you how: by overpowering it before it even has a chance to react!" Use Earthquake!" Electivire loosed a quake. Arcanine jumped over it, but Lexi was ready. "ThunderPunch!" Electivire's charged fist met Arcanine's face dead-on. The dog Pokemon yelped in pain as it was sent flying backwards.

"ExtremeSpeed!" Arcanine recovered from the blow and sped towards Electivire again. Once again, the move happened so fast, nobody even saw Arcanine move. Electivire was on the ground before anyone could even blink.

"This isn't good," Lexi thought. "If I can't outspeed this thing, then I'm going to have to be Ms. Opportunistic." She waited for Arcanine to make a move.

"ExtremeSpeed again!" Arcanine prepared to take off again, but Lexi was ready.

"Earthquake!" she called, just as Arcanine took off, Electivire stomped the ground and caused an Earthquake. The shockwaves got to Arcanine right before it got to Electivire. Arcanine sustained a heave blow due to its weakness to ground-type moves. Arcanine glared at Electivire, who glared back. It was time for one final showdown.

"Flare Blitz!" Mike called. Arcanine coated itself in flames and charged.

"ThunderPunch!" Lexi ordered. Electivire electrified its fist and dashed at Arcanine. When the attacks collided, a large cloud of dust kicked up. Both trainers shielded their eyes. When the dust settled, both Pokemon were still standing, albeit on their last legs. Mike and Lexi went to issue another order to end the battle, but just them, Arcanine's legs gave in and it fell to the ground.

"Arcanine is unable to battle. Electivire wins, and the match goes to Lexi Redstone of Nuvema Town!" The crowd went wild as the battle drew to a close.

"Can you believe it, folks? Lexi rallies from down 4-3 to win the closest battle yet 1-0! I've never seem suck an electrifying battle!" the announcer exclaimed. Both trainers recalled their Pokemon and waled to the center of the battlefield. Mike extended his hand.

"Hey, great battle! I enjoyed fighting you. I knew you were tough when I had to pull out Gyarados, but I didn't think I'd get pushed so far. If you don't mind me saying, I think that was the best battle I've ever had!" Mike said. Lexi shook Mike's hand.

"Hey, don't mention it. I'm always looking for a good opponent. And let me tell you, that was a great battle. Right down to the wire, just the way I like it," Lexi replied.

"Right down to the wire battles are my specialty! It really gives off a feeling of suspense in the crowd as they wait on edge to see which one goes down. Well, I'm off to heal my Pokemon. See you around. And don't forget, the offer for DJ'ing at Three Island's beach parties is still on the table if you wanna take me up on it".

"I'll think about it," Lexi replied. "See you around". She broke the handshake and walked back into the green tunnel. She was psyched that she won such a close battle. She loved close battles like that where both trainers were on their last Pokemon and went all out in a last-ditch effort to finish their opponent. It gave her such an adrenalin rush. She spotted Roy, Freeze, Aidan, and Damon and headed over to them. "Hey guys!" she said upon reaching them.

"Hey. That was one hell of a battle there," Roy said.

"I'll say. That made my battle look pretty wimpy, to be honest," Freeze remarked.

"You're some kind of tough, girl," Aidan complimented.

"I concur, that was an awesome match," Damon commented.

"Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it. I always try my hardest to make my battles electrifying and fresh, just like the hot new beats playing in my headphones," Lexi said.

"Well, the battle certainly dazzled me," Roy replied.

"Then my style shows through," Lexi said. "I leave all my opponents dazzled. They always thank me for an excellent battle. This is why I get hired to DJ at a lot of events. Not only am I the top DJ in Unova, but my battle skills and Pokemon enhance it all. I feel like I'm on top of the world!"

"That's nice," Freeze commented, earning him a punch it the arm from Aidan.

"Be nice," Aidan said. Roy, Damon, and Lexi chuckled.

"Hey, it's getting kinda late, so I say we go grab a bite to eat and go back to our rooms," Damon said.

"I agree, let's do that," Lexi responded.

"Ok then," Roy said. The gang left the stadium, exhausted after a long day.

**Author's Note: And that concludes this chapter. Finally, Lexi sees some action in battle. I think this is the best battle scene I've written yet. The guy Lexi fought, Mike Harvey, is just some random character I came up with out of the blue. He probably won't be appearing again. Next chapter will be some more out-of-battle stuff to build up to the next big events: Aidan's battle, Jasmine showing up to cheer on Roy, and Roy's sister Terra arriving.**

**This will be put on hold for about a week or so as I'm going on vacation. Updates will resume after I return.**

**Fun Fact: Listening to RPG battle themes is a great way to get motivated to write battle scenes. While I was writing the battle scene in this chapter, I was listening to the Chrono Trigger battle theme. It got me quite pumped up for a battle scene.**

**Fun Fact 2: The title of this chapter is a reference to one of the three titles I've heard for the Final Fantasy VII boss theme (Fight On!, Still More Fighting, Those Who Fight Further). I'm not a particularly big fan of FFVII, but it does have some good music (I still think One-Winged Angel is overrated, though). *braces self from legion of fantards***

**Since nobody got the references I made a couple of chapters ago, I will reveal them here. This ****Pokemon game reference is a line in Pokemon Stadium for the N64. If you have the announcer on and you take a long time making your move, he'll sometimes say "What's the matter, trainer?" The line that references this in Freeze's battle a couple chapters back is right after the referee announces the matchup between Mamoswine and Bronzong. The song lyrics reference occurs right at the end of the chapter. The song referenced is Starlight by Muse.**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	13. Jasmine Arrives or does she?

Chapter 10: Jasmine Arrives... or does she?

The sun broke over the horizon in Olivine City. The Pidgey were chirping and Wingull flew low over the sea. The city was still quiet as the morning commuters hadn't left for work yet. At the beach, a lone figure stood in the sand. The figure was clearly feminine. A light breeze blew in from the bay and ruffled her hair. She thought to herself, 'The breeze sure is nice today'. She then turned around to head towards the docks, her hair whipping around as she did so. Today was the day Jasmine, the leader of the Olivine City Pokemon Gym, departed for the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub on leave from her Gym duties. Jasmine began to daydream as she walked to the docks. She imagined all the hard-fought battles being fought at the Great Victory Tournament being held at the Battle Hub and wondered if she would recall the faces of trainers who had challenged her Gym. She then turned her thoughts to the young man that was the real reason she was going: Roy Ashford. She blushed madly as she reminisced the day he departed on his Pidgeot's back for the tournament. Just before Roy had departed, Jasmine had kissed him. Much to her surprise, he returned it. Since that day, Jasmine couldn't stop thinking about that moment. She was glad no challengers had come to the Gym since the start of the tournament because she had been unable to maintain her focus on anything. She could only focus on one thing: Roy. Now, since she was going to see Roy at the Battle Hub, her heart was racing. As she reached the docks, she flashed her boarding pass to the guard and boarded the ship. After half an hour, the ship departed. Jasmine got settled down in a seat and watched the rolling waves. She began to drift off after a short while. She enjoyed peace and quiet for about half an hour, when an announcement suddenly rang out over the PA.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for disturbing you. We have just received word that this ship is needed to pick up passengers in Slateport City in Hoenn. We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but the company's orders are absolute. Again, we are needed to pick up passengers in Slateport City in Hoenn. We apologize for the inconvenience," the captain's voice rang out. Jasmine felt her heart drop. Almost instantaneously, her sadness turned to anger as she had half a mind to complain to the ship's company. She decided to drop it, though, and returned to staring at the waves, now unable to rest.

"This is gonna be a _long_ trip..." Jasmine said to herself. She shook her head as she tried to forget about how angry she was. She took out a book to pass the time, as nothing on the ship interested her. It would take about a day to reach Hoenn and then another day to get to the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub. She would have to call Roy when the ship arrived in Slateport and inform him of the unforeseen delay.

/

The sail to Slateport went down without incident. The captain told everyone to disembark for a few hours so the ship could be cleaned. As Jasmine disembarked, a Poke Ball rattled inside her bag. She took it out and sent out a Magnemite. The magnet Pokemon seemed like it was trying to tell Jasmine something.

"Hm? What is it, Magnemite?" Jasmine asked. Magnemite made a few strange noises and buzzes. Jasmine seemed to understand them. Magnemite seemed angry about something, most likely the diversion off course the ship had taken. "I'm not too happy about it either, Magnemite, but it's not like there's anything we can do about it". Magnemite made a whirring sound to show its displeasure, but made no further complaints. Jasmine took out the Poke Ball and returned Magnemite. She put the ball back in her bag and set off to look for the Pokemon Center. It wasn't far from the Slateport docks, so it didn't take long for Jasmine to find it. Once inside, she ran over to the phone and dialed Roy's number. 'Please pick up,' Jasmine thought. The phone rang for several seconds, then Roy's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Jaz, what's up?" Roy greeted.

"Hey Roy, bad news," Jasmine replied.

"Great, what now?"

"My ship got diverted to Slateport City in Hoenn".

"What? Ship owners must be smoking weed everyday".

"I don't know what they're smoking, but I'm willing to bet they're smoking some strong stuff. So yeah. I'm in Slateport now. Got a few hours to wait while the ship is prepared again. Honestly, these owners or whatever are idiots. I mean, shouldn't they have had another ship ready for this?"

"That would certainly make sense, but you know companies these days. No common sense at all. It's a wonder the economy hasn't completely erased itself".

"Tell me about it. Anyways, just figured I'd check in and tell you that I'm delayed. I should be there tomorrow".

"All right then. Can't wait to see you again, Jaz". Roy flashed a smile and Jasmine returned it.

"Can't wait to see you, too, Roy. Take care now," she replied. She then hung up the phone as Roy shut off his videophone. With a sigh, Jasmine got up to take a look around Slateport City. As she stepped outside, a brisk sea breeze blew in. Slateport was much like Olivine in that it was a good-sized port town with a large number of sailors and tourists entering or exiting the region. Slateport Market was the main attraction, with a large selection of goods from around the world. The latest shipment had brought the first goods from Unova to be seen in the Hoenn region. Jasmine wandered through the market until she had enough of looking around and found herself on the beach. Slateport's beach was much larger than Olivine's, since all that was at Olivine's beach were a bunch of rocks and Krabby. Jasmine simply took the time to stare out over the waves as they washed ashore. A small rocky ledge jutted out to her right. She took a look at it and saw that it was big enough for maybe a couple of people to fit on it. 'Roy would love that,' she thought. 'He's always hanging out on the rocky ledges back home anyways. I ought to join him up the ledge sometime. Maybe I'll see why he likes hanging out on them so much'. Having seen everything in Slateport, Jasmine turned back and headed for the docks.

/

Meanwhile, at the Battle Hub, Roy had just hung up the phone after Jasmine had called, He was quite annoyed at the delay, but had no outlet to let out his annoyance. He decided to get his mind off of it by going to the practice fields and training for a little while. He left his room and made his way to the nearest practice field. Once there, he found an unoccupied area to bring out his Pokemon.

"Alakazam, come on out," he said. He held out a Poke Ball and a yellow humanoid Pokemon with long and thick whisker-like strands hanging from its face and a spoon in each hand. Alakazam was silent as it emerged from the ball. Roy communicated to it with his thoughts, as Alakazam had amazing psychic powers that allowed it to read the thoughts of others. Alakazam could tell that Roy wanted it to practice its Reflect move. Alakazam's regular defense was paper-thin, so Roy had taught it Reflect to help with that. Roy then sent out his Nidoking so that Alakazam could practice using Reflect. "Ok, Nidoking, I want you to use Poison Jab on Alakazam. Alakazam, you know what to do". Both Pokemon nodded and faced each other. Nidoking's horn gleamed as it turned a lighter purple and the dinosaur-like Pokemon charged at Alakazam. Alakazam tapped into its reserves of amazing psychic power and formed a wall of light in front of it. Nidoking slammed into the wall and was stopped in its tracks. It leaped back as it prepared to charge again. The wall of light faded and Alakazam prepared to set it up again. Nidoking came rushing in, giving Alakazam less time to react. The humanoid Psychic-type Pokemon got the wall of light up in time, however. Nidoking slammed into the wall again. The wall of light seemed to bend a little from the force of the blow. Once again, Nidoking leaped back and prepared to strike once more. Alakazam focused its mind and faced Nidoking. Nidoking charged at top speed with Roy watching intently. Alakazam put up the wall of light to take Nidoking's attack, but it proved to be insufficient as Nidoking's horn pierced the wall. Roy knew Nidoking's special ability, Sheer Force, powered up its attacks by about 20% but removed additional effects. He was impressed that Alakazam had been blocking most of Nidoking's powerful Poison Jabs with Reflect. "Not bad, Alakazam. Don't feel too bad about Nidoking breaking through there; it's got Sheer Force as its ability". Alakazam nodded, fully understanding that Nidoking's moves were more powerful than normal. "Nice job, you two. Now I know that Nidoking has enough power to break through Reflect even without Brick Break and Alakazam has honed Reflect to be able to stand up to moves with a power under 100. That's a pretty good Reflect". Roy had taken his mind off of the annoyance of Jasmine's delay thanks to his training. He called his Pokemon back and made his way back to the hotel, pleased at the results of his Alakazam's Reflect training.

/

Back in Slateport City, Jasmine was sitting in the Pokemon Center reading a book. It had been a few hours since the ship had arrived in Slateport. Jasmine was already bored of waiting. 'Jeez, hurry up already, you stupid ship crew people,' she thought, clearly frustrated. She was also getting bored of reading her book, so she put in a bookmark and closed it. She got up and decided to go to the docks to make sure she was there when they announced that people could board the ship again. She stepped out of the Pokemon Center and turned to her left. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she walked over to the docks. When she got there, there was already a queue for the ship. 'Obviously, I'm not the only one who's frustrated here,' she thought. People in the line were grumbling and complaining that it was taking too long to get back on the ship. One man yelled out, 'Hey, jackasses, let us back on the ship already! We've been waitin' long enough!" Jasmine flinched a little at the coarse language. 'Somebody's not in an amiable mood,' she thought. Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder, She turned around. "Yes?" she asked as politely as possible given her own frustration.

"Is this the line for the ship going to the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub?" the person asked. Jasmine eyeballed her and noticed she looked eerily similar to someone she knew in the past. The person was clearly female. She had vibrant green hair that reached down past her neck and deep blue eyes. She wore a red sleeveless shirt. The bottom of her shirt reached past her waist. She also wore denim jeans and red and white shoes. On her right hand was a small silver bracelet. She appeared to be about 16 years of age and stood at 5'6". She was quite a pretty young woman.

"Yes, this is," Jasmine replied. As she finished, realization dawned on her. She now remembered where she had seen this girl last and who she was. The last time she had seen her was seven years ago while over at Roy's house. This was Roy's sister, Terra. The green hair was her defining characteristic, as well as her eyes, as they shared the same deep blue color as Roy's. Terra noticed who she had been talking to and her eyes lit up in surprise.

"Wait a sec... you're Jasmine, aren't you? Jasmine of Olivine City?" Terra asked.

"Yep, that's me," Jasmine replied with a small smile. "And you... I just remembered who you are. You're Terra Ashford, right?"

"Yep, that would be me," Terra said back. A moment of silence reigned. Then Jasmine broke it.

"Oh my gosh, it's been years since I last saw you! Everyone assumed you were dead!" Jasmine exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's a really long story. Plus, we're in the middle of a line, so I'll tell you when we get on board the ship," Terra replied.

"Ok then," Jasmine said. "So looks like we're both headed to the same place".

"Yep. I was initially gonna go back home to see my mom first, but there were no ships headed for Olivine, so I decided to go straight to the Battle Hub. Roy's competing in the tournament there, and I really want to go watch him. Why are you headed there?"

"Funny, I'm headed there for the same reason as you. I want to watch Roy battle". Jasmine blushed a little as she said this, and Terra caught it.

"Well now, looks like someone's got the hots for my big brother," Terra teased. This made Jasmine blush harder. Terra giggled a little.

"Don't tease me," Jasmine complained.

"So you admit it. You like him, don't you?"

"Y...yes. Actually, w... we're official..." Jasmine couldn't stop blushing. Terra was caught off guard.

"Wow. I always wondered when my big bro would hook up with someone. Didn't quite it expect it to be you, though I should've seen it coming. I mean, you and Roy were inseparable last I remember. Well now, this is quite the pleasant surprise!" Terra smiled at Jasmine, who was blushing uncontrollably.

"Th... thank you... I guess," Jasmine replied. Just then, the boarding ramp was lowered and passengers began flooding onto the ship.

"Well, guess we'd better get on," Terra said.

"Y... yeah," Jasmine responded. The two girls got on the ship and waited for departure.

/

Back at the Battle Hub, Roy had re-entered his room and was set to simply chill out for the rest of the day. He was going to be out all day tomorrow as Jasmine was now supposed to arrive the next day. He thought about that for a moment and realized that Terra, his sister, was supposed to arrive the same day. 'Heh, it would be pretty funny if they met on the ship or something,' Roy thought. Not only were his sister and girlfriend supposed to arrive tomorrow, he was going to be at the stadium anyways to watch Aidan's battle. Aidan had been busy training all day with Freeze as her practice partner. Roy had been concerned about Freeze for a little while now since his breakdown on the battlefield a few days ago, but he seemed to be coping just fine, especially with Aidan around. Roy chuckled lightly. 'They're just like me and Jasmine a few years ago. Oh, they're not gonna be able to live it down with me around, hehe,' he snickered. He then turned on the TV to watch some battles. The day went by faster than a rampaging Tauros, and Roy called it a night early, preparing for another busy day.

**Author's Note: Sorry this is such a short chapter; I had absolutely no idea where to go with this. Anyways, yes, this means I'm back from vacation. More chapters will be up soon, so keep your eyes peeled for them. Keep sending in OC's; I'll need 'em for battles later on. So, Jasmine gets diverted to Slateport City because of stupid ship owners (gotta love stupid executives :P) and meets Terra, who makes her official debut in the story. Her appearance is very loosely based off of Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI. We also get to see another one of Roy's Pokemon: his Alakazam. I figured I could come up with a little gimmick for moves like Reflect and Light Screen for a Pokemon like Alakazam. Moves are only as powerful as the user can make them, so for Reflect, I made it so that it works based on the amount of focus an power Alakazam can pour into it with its mind. Nidoking's attack in the end proved to be a bit too much for Alakazam's Reflect, which means Alakazam just needs to focus a little more and put out a little more power. I'll be using this gimmick multiple times in the story.**

**Fun fact: I made an unintentional reference to a line in some Snoop Dogg song that I only know because of YouTube and watching so many YTPMVs. Can you spot it?**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	14. Fight to the Finish

**Author's Note: Aidan's opponent will not be a user-submitted OC. Instead, you may or may not recognize the character used from one of the games.**

Chapter 11: Fight to the Finish

Daylight flooded the stadium as the crowd roared in eagerness of an intense battle. The first round was drawing to a close, and each match brought exciting twists and turns that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. Today was the final day of the first round, and it was finally Aidan's turn to battle. She stood at the tunnel and waited for the announcer to introduce the next battle.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to begin the final day of the first round!" the announcer said. The crowd cheered as loudly as they had been all week. "Let's meet out battlers! In the green corner, hailing from Rustboro City in Hoenn, is one of the most well-balanced trainers the Pokemon League has seen come out of the Hoenn region. She took the Hoenn league by storm several years ago and left her mark on the other leagues in the following years. Give it up for Aidan Gallow!" The crowd roared as Aidan stepped out of the tunnel. A look of calm confidence could be seen on her face. She took her spot on the battlefield and adjusted her trucker cap. She looked up into the stands and spotted Roy, Lexi, Freeze, and Damon. She adjusted her cap again to signal that she had spotted them. A thumbs-up from Lexi indicated that the group noticed. The announcer came back on the PA at that time.

"In the red corner, hailing from Nuvema Town in Unova, is a young man known to the region, and now the word, as the Hero of Ideals. He saved the Unova region from an organization called Team Plasma and became the Champion of Unova later. Introducing Hilbert Black!" The red tunnel opened and a boy of about sixteen walked out. He had brown hair and hazel eyes, and sported a red and white baseball cap with a black Poke Ball on it and a black brim. He had a black t-shirt underneath his blue jacket and wore black jeans. His shoes were red with areas of black and white. His normally happy expression was instead a look of cold determination. He was clearly in the zone. Hilbert took his place at his end of the field and waited. The referee then stepped forward and motioned for the trainers to come to the middle.

"Trainers, shake hands and introduce yourselves," the referee said. Aidan extended her hand first.

"Aidan Gallow, Rustboro City. Truly honored to battle you," Aidan said calmly. Hilbert shook Aidan's hand.

"Hilbert Black, Nuvema Town. I trust you'll give me a great battle," Hilbert replied. The referee then went back to the sideline and the two trainers returned to their sides.

"Trainers ready?"

"Ready," both trainers said.

"Select your Pokemon!"

"Skarmory, take flight!" Aidan called and tossed out a Poke Ball. It burst open and an armored bird Pokemon emerged. It squawked and narrowed its eyes.

"Braviary, go!" Hilbert called. He tossed the Poke Ball into the air and an eagle-like Pokemon emerged. It beat its mighty wings as it faced down Skarmory.

"Skarmory vs. Braviary. Begin!" The referee raised his arms, letting the flags in his hands unfurl.

"Alright, Braviary, let's start off with Brave Bird!" Hilbert commanded. Braviary picked up speed, then tucked in its wings as it prepared to slam into Skarmory.

"Skarmory, use Air Cutter to stop it!" Aidan ordered. Skarmory shot out blades of air that slashed at Braviary, knocking the eagle off course. Braviary put on the brakes and turned to face Skarmory again. "Ok, Skarmory, now use Steel Wing!" The armored bird Pokemon's already steel-hard wings took on a silvery sheen as it swooped at Braviary.

"Braviary, counter with Aerial Ace!" Braviary did a loop-de-loop and sped towards Skarmory. The two birds clashed in midair, knocking each other back.

"Skarmory, use Swift!" The armored bird opened its beak and shot out star-shaped rays. The attack was so fast that Braviary didn't have time to dodge and took the hit.

"Two can play that game," Hilbert said. "Aerial Ace!" Braviary did another loop-de-loop and sped right at Skarmory. Braviary's movements were so blindingly fast that Skarmory didn't see it coming and took the hit. Skarmory didn't take much damage due to being half Steel-type. Skarmory then took to the air again.

"Flash Cannon!" Skarmory opened its beak and shot a ball of light at Braviary.

"Another easily countered move. Air Slash!" Braviary slashed at the air, forming a blade which shot out. It collided with the Flash Cannon and the attacks exploded, kicking up a cloud of smoke. "Now, Brave Bird!" Braviary tucked in its wings as it raced towards Skarmory. Skarmory took a fairly have blow despite its natural resistances.

"Ok, Skarmory, no holding back anymore. Now we soar!" Skarmory took the verbal cue and soared high into the sky. Braviary was unable to spot the armored bird, for Skarmory was obscured by the clouds. Hilbert didn't seem too fazed.

"Just wait it out, Braviary. It'll come down eventually," he told his eagle Pokemon. Braviary simply hovered in midair, waiting for Skarmory to attack. Suddenly, a shower of stars fell from the clouds. The stars fell so fast that Hilbert didn't have time to react. Braviary was pelted by the stars. Suddenly, Skarmory swooped down from the clouds and smashed head-first into Braviary with its Fly attack. Braviary went plummeting to the ground, landing with a resounding thud. The eagle Pokemon was roughed up, but got back up. It beat its wings as it regained altitude. Skarmory had taken to the clouds again, so Braviary waited for an attack. Aidan smirked because nobody had ever beaten Skarmory while this strategy was in use. She adjusted her cap a little, and Skarmory noticed this as the cue to strike. It opened its beak and shot out a Swift attack. This time, however, Braviary noticed and blocked the incoming stars with Air Slash. Aidan held off on initiating a direct attack this time because she knew Braviary would be ready. Instead, she tilted her head slightly to the left and Skarmory circled behind Braviary. Aidan then twitched her left hand and Skarmory opened its beak. A ball of light formed and a Flash Cannon shot out. Braviary's keen vision alerted it to the incoming Flash Cannon, but it wasn't able to dodge quite quickly enough. It took the hit on its right wing, hindering its flight ability. As it struggled to stay airborne, Aidan twitched her right hand and Skarmory dove out of the clouds and straight towards Braviary with a Steel Wing attack. Unable to dodge because of its lame wing, Braviary took a direct hit, It spiraled down to the ground and landed on its back with a loud crash. It was completely knocked out.

"Braviary is unable to battle. Skarmory wins!" The referee raised the green flag to show that Skarmory was victorious.

"Wow, this was an aerial battle like none other, folks! I don't think I've ever seen such a clever use of the cloud cover before," the announcer exclaimed. Hilbert called Braviary back and selected his next Pokemon.

"Emboar, go!" The ball burst open and a large, burly pig creature with a beard of fire emerged from the light. It pounded its fists together and struck a battle pose.

"Skarmory vs. Emboar. Begin!"

"Alright, Emboar, let's make this quick. Flamethrower!" Emboar launched a stream of fire into the air in an attempt to shoot down Skarmory. Aidan made a very slight shaking motion with her head and Skarmory did a barrel roll to avoid the jet of fire. Hilbert began to grimace at the odds he was facing. Aidan and Skarmory were so in sync that nothing could touch them. He was going to have to be very patient and wait for an opening. Aidan knew Skarmory was at a type disadvantage, so she would probably hang back and use ranged attacks. 'There has to be a way to lure Skarmory out of the cloud cover,' Hilbert thought. As he thought of a way to get Skarmory out of the clouds, the armored bird Pokemon loosed a Swift attack. "Quick, Emboar, block it with Flamethrower!" Emboar shot a jet of fire at the incoming stars and the stars dissipated. Skarmory dodged the jet of fire as its attack failed. Suddenly it clicked for Hilbert. Skarmory constantly exposed itself when dodging. Now, the only problem would be predicting where Skarmory was. Aidan had been very quiet on her side, so Hilbert figured that she was using visual cues to alert Skarmory to its next move. Hilbert narrowed his eyes as he kept a close watch on Aidan's movements. At that moment, Aidan twitched her left hand, signaling to Skarmory that it was to use Flash Cannon. Behind the cloud cover, Skarmory opened its beak and charged a Flash Cannon. Hilbert just barely caught Aidan's twitching motion and barked a command.

"Emboar, Flamethrower at 5 o'clock!" Emboar pivoted on its foot and launched a stream of fire at the spot where Hilbert believed Skarmory was. Aidan shook her head ever so slightly, and Skarmory began to dodge the incoming Flamethrower. Hilbert snapped his fingers. "Gotcha. Emboar, propel yourself into the air with Flamethrower!" Emboar shot a stream of fire directly at the ground, propelling it into the air right at Skarmory's projected stopping point when it dodged the last of the previous Flamethrower. Hilbert's prediction was dead-on, and Emboar slammed into Skarmory, making it lose altitude drastically. "Ok, Emboar, take it out! Heat Crash!" Emboar cloaked itself in flames and fell right at Skarmory. With the increased force given from the fall and Emboar weighting a good 200 pounds more than Skarmory, the armored bird took a crushing blow. Emboar smashed Skarmory into the ground. The crash sent a shockwave all around the stadium. Skarmory was clearly unable to continue after a beating so severe.

"Skarmory is unable to battle. Emboar wins!"

"Good job, Skarmory. Take a good, long rest." Aidan said as she returned Skarmory. With Skarmory down, most of Aidan's strategy went down with it.

"Folks, I think this battle has been the most intense one yet. We've seen incredible strategy from both competitors. This can only get better," the announcer said. Aidan selected her next Pokemon.

"Gyarados, get 'em!" The ball burst open and a blue, cream, and white sea serpent with an intimidating look emerged from the light. Gyarados's look unnerved Emboar a bit.

"Gyarados vs. Emboar. Begin!"

"Gyarados, let's go with Hydro Pump!" A forceful blast of water was shot from Gyarados's mouth. Emboar was ready, though, and it jumped over the blast of water.

"Emboar, give it a dose of your Head Smash!" Emboar lowered its head and charged at Gyarados.

"Oh no you don't. Gyarados, Aqua Tail!" Gyarados's tail glowed blue and it swung it at the charging Emboar. The two attacks collided and a stalemate resulted. Gyarados kept pushing with its tail as Emboar tried to fling Gyarados away with its head. It was clear neither Pokemon was going to yield. Aidan decided to capitalize on this. "Gyarados, break off the stalemate and use Hydro Pump!" The sea serpent allowed Emboar to charge right past it by lifting its tail. It then turned around and blasted water at the flaming pig. The jet of water struck Emboar squarely in the back. Emboar crashed to the ground under the pressure. With difficulty, it got back up.

"Emboar, use Hammer Arm to launch yourself". Emboar smacked the ground with its fist with enough force to propel itself into the air. "Now, Flamethrower!" A jet of fire shot from Emboar's beard. Gyarados took the hit and sustained minimal damage.

"Let's finish it, Gyarados. Start with Dragon Dance!" Gyarados performed a strange dance that boosted its Attack and Speed. "Now slam it with Aqua Tail!" Gyarados snaked its way to Emboar and swung its tail at the pig.

"Emboar, counter with Hammer Arm!" Emboar swung its arm at Gyarados to counter the Aqua Tail. Emboar was already weakened from the Hydro Pump, however, and Gyarados's power was boosted, so Aqua Tail prevailed.

"Now, finish it with authority! Hyper Beam!" A yellow beam of energy formed in Gyarados's mouth. As it was shot out, the stadium shook from the sheer power it exuded. Emboar took a direct hit and collapsed.

"Emboar is unable to battle. Gyarados wins!"

"Emboar, return," Hilbert called and returned Emboar. 'To think that she's pushing me this far... she's really good,' he thought. 'All right, no more holding back. It's time to bring in the big guns'. He took out a Poke Ball and tossed it out. "Eelektross, go!" The ball burst open and a strange-looking Pokemon with an eel's body plus arms and legs emerged.

"Gyarados vs. Eelektross. Begin!"

"Eelektross, end this in an instant. Use Thunder!" Eelektross began to crackle with electricity. Once the electricity coalesced, the eel creature shot it into the sky. A massive lightning bolt shot down at Gyarados.

"Dodge it, quick!" Gyarados attempted to dodge, but even with its boosted speed from Dragon dance, it couldn't make it out of the way and took the full force of the Thunder attack. Gyarados was zapped into submission and it fell to the ground.

"Gyarados is unable to battle. Eelektross wins!"

"Whoa, what a move! Gyarados is down in just one attack!" the announcer exclaimed.

"Gyarados, return". Aidan called Gyarados back and made her next choice. Since Eelektross wasn't weak to any type thanks to the Levitate ability, she was just going to have to power her way through. Luckily, she knew that Eelektross had paper-thin defenses. She made her selection. "Garchomp, you're up!" The ball opened and a blue shark-like dragon with a red and yellow torso and spikes on its body emerged.

"Garchomp vs. Eelektross. Begin!"

"Garchomp, start by setting up Sandstorm!" Garchomp snarled and whipped up a vicious sandstorm. The sand swirled in the air as visibility was restricted.

"Eelektross, try Dragon Tail!" Eelektross's tail exuded power as it rushed at Garchomp. However, the sandstorm obscured the eel creature's vision, and Garchomp blended in with the sandstorm due to its Sand Veil ability.

"Now, Dragon Rush!" Garchomp charged from behind Eelektross at mach speed and scored a heavy blow on the eel.

"Don't let it get another hit on you. Use Hyper Beam!" Eelektross fired a yellow beam of energy that shook the stadium. Garchomp took the hit head on.

"Hang in there, Garchomp! Use Dragon Claw!" Garchomp launched itself at Eelektross, closed in, then hooked and slashed. Eelektross was still recharging from the Hyper Beam, so it took the hit. Somehow, it survived.

"Eelektross, Dragon Tail!" Eelektross charged at Garchomp, but once again, the sandstorm allowed Garchomp to evade it.

"Flamethrower!" Garchomp loosed a stream of fire from its mouth. Eelektross dodged it, though. At that point, the sandstorm died down and visibility was restored. Eelektross spotted Garchomp and turned to face it.

"Hyper Beam!"

"Flamethrower!" The jet of fire and energy beam collided in the middle of the stadium and exploded, kicking up a cloud of smoke. Aidan adjusted her hat and Garchomp charged in to the smoke with a Dragon Claw at the ready. Eelektross had also charged in with a Dragon Tail. When the smoke cleared, the two Pokemon were going at each other. Eventually, Garchomp scored a hit and sent Eelektross flying. Eelektross had no more energy left, so it collapsed. However, at the same time, Garchomp also collapsed, having spent all of its energy.

"Both Garchomp and Eelektross are unable to battle. It's a double knockout!" Both trainers called back their Pokemon.

"Folks, I am blown away. Sparks have well and truly flown in this match. I have never seen a battle of such intensity in my years as an official announcer". The announcer spoke in an awed voice. The trainers selected their next Pokemon.

"Mightyena, get 'em!" Aidan threw a Poke Ball and a shaggy black and gray dog emerged. It barked and snarled as it got in position.

"Bouffalant, go!" Hilbert threw a Poke Ball and a buffalo Pokemon with an afro emerged. It snorted and it pawed at the ground.

"Mightyena vs. Bouffalant. Begin!"

"Bouffalant, use Head Charge!" Bouffalant lowered its head and rushed right at Mightyena.

"Mightyena, Dark Pulse!" The black and gray dog loosed a wave of dark energy at the incoming Bouffalant. Bouffalant charged right into it because its head was down. The buffalo staggered back in surprise. "Now, use Ice Fang!" Mightyena charged at Bouffalant with cold-infused fangs. It bit down on the buffalo and it loosed a cry of pain.

"Shake it off, Bouffalant. Use Megahorn!" Bouffalant shook Mightyena off of it and then charged at the dog with its sharp horns ready to impale.

"Dodge it and use Take Down!" Mightyena dashed to the right and rushed back at the bovine Pokemon, tackling it at full force. Mightyena took some recoil damage from the strike. "Now, use Fire Fang!" Mightyena bit down on Bouffalant's leg with burning fangs. Another cry of pain from the bovine Pokemon signaled a good hit. Mightyena let go and prepared to strike again, but Hilbert wasn't about to let it.

"Megahorn!" Bouffalant turned around and stabbed at Mightyena with its horns. In such close proximity, Mightyena couldn't dodge and took a direct hit. The dog Pokemon flew backwards into the wall. After that blow, it could barely stand.

"Dark Pulse!" Mightyena loosed a wave of dark energy at Bouffalant. The buffalo jumped over it.

"Now, Earthquake!" Bouffalant hit the ground hard with its feet and shook the entire stadium, sending shockwaves rippling through the ground. Mightyena prepared itself to jump, but a sudden pain in its leg from where it smashed into the wall prevented it from doing so. It yelped in pain and surprise as its leg came up lame and was then bowled over by the shockwaves from Earthquake. Mightyena was down for the count.

"Mightyena is unable to battle. Bouffalant wins!"

"Argh... good job Mightyena. Return". Aidan called Mightyena back. She suddenly didn't look quite as confident as she had before. 'Darn... this isn't going well...' she thought. 'I've got to do something to get back into this...' She was down to two Pokemon. 'Better make every move count...' She tossed out a Poke Ball. "Blaziken, flame on!" The ball burst open and the Blaze Pokemon emerged from the light. It ignited jets of flame from just behind its wrists and struck a battle pose.

"Blaziken vs. Bouffalant. Begin!"

"Ok, Blaziken, let's do this! Use Sky Uppercut!" Blaziken charged straight at Bouffalant, ready to send it skyward with a powerful uppercut.

"Bouffalant, counter with Head Charge!" The buffalo lowered its head and rushed straight at the incoming Blaziken.

"Not happening," Aidan said. "Jump, now!" Blaziken leaped high into the air with its powerful legs. "Now use Blaze Kick!" Blaziken's right foot burst into flames as it descended onto Bouffalant. The buffalo Pokemon skidded backwards from the hit, but stood strong. Aidan was somewhat bewildered that Bouffalant was still standing. Using this to an advantage, Hilbert struck back.

"Earthquake!" Bouffalant smacked the ground and sent out shockwaves.

"Jump!" Blaziken launched itself into the air again. "Now try Brave Bird!" Blaziken streamlined itself as it fell towards Bouffalant. The buffalo took the hit head on and was knocked into the wall. After sliding off of the wall, it could no longer stand.

"Bouffalant is unable to battle. Blaziken wins!"

"Good job, Bouffalant. Return". Hilbert called Bouffalant back and selected his next Pokemon, confident that he had this battle in the bag. "Simipour, let's go!" The ball opened and out burst a blue and tan monkey with a strangely shaped end to its tail and dreadlocks. It looked eager to fight.

"Blaziken vs. Simipour. Begin!"

"Simipour, begin with Scald!" Simipour aimed its tail at Blaziken and shot a stream of boiling-hot water.

"Jump!" Blaziken easily jumped over the stream of water. "Now, use Sky Uppercut!" Blaziken landed and immediately dashed up to Simipour with alarming speed. Before anyone could see what happened, Blaziken threw an uppercut that launched Simipour straight up into the sky. Blaziken prepared to strike again, but was stopped when Simipour recovered in midair and shot another Scald attack at it. Blaziken was hit by the jet of steaming water. The Blaze Pokemon stumbled backwards from the super-effective hit. Simipour then rushed in, its fist glowing white: a Brick Break attack. Blaziken righted itself after stumbling.

"Counter with Sky Uppercut!" Aidan called. Blaziken rushed towards the charging Simipour and threw an uppercut. The angle and force of the uppercut threw off Simipour's Brick Break and the monkey went down with the attack. Simipour got back up and looked angrily at Blaziken for interrupting its attack. It shot another Scald attack from its tail. Blaziken instinctively jumped over it and ignited its foot for a Blaze Kick, connecting with Simipour's torso. While the monkey didn't sustain much damage from the fire attack, it was knocked backwards.

"Ok, let's try something else, Simipour. Use Ice Beam!" Simipour got up and shot an ice-cold beam of energy.

"Easily countered. Blaziken, Overheat!" An intense wave of fire shot out from Blaziken's body, melting the Ice Beam instantly. Now, rush in with ThunderPunch!" Blaziken electrified its fist and charged at the surprised Simipour. The monkey took a direct hit and was knocked out almost instantly. Aidan smirked; she knew it had scored a critical hit.

"Simipour is unable to battle. Blaziken wins!"

"Return". Hilbert called Simipour back. He didn't look as confident now as he didn't expect Blaziken to be so good. 'I have no choice. As the Hero of Ideals, I am obligated to use my dragon in such dire situations. I don't know how it was allowed in the tournament, but I'm glad it was,' he thought. Suddenly, the clouds grew dark and electricity crackled from them. The crowd fell into a hushed silence as Hilbert called the name of his final Pokemon. "It's time to show you why I am the Hero of Ideals. Show yourself, Zekrom!" A massive lightning bolt descended from the heavens and struck the ground, shaking the stadium to its core. As the lightning died down, a massive black dragon took its place. Its tail glowed blue as it generated electricity, and its blood-red eyes intimidated all who looked into them. It radiated a pulsing electric aura: the Teravolt ability. It loosed a terrible roar that also shook the stadium. In fear, the referee had taken cover and could barely be heard.

"Blaziken vs. Zekrom. Begin!"

"Zekrom, we'll end this in one good hit. Use Fusion Bolt!" Zekrom took to the skies and coated itself in electricity. A giant lightning bolt shot out at Blaziken.

"Dive left!" Blaziken dove out of the way of the bolt, then rolled back up. "Try Overheat!" A scorching wave of fire shot from Blaziken. The previous Overheat had weakened it, though. Zekrom simply took the hit as if it were nothing. 'Not good,' Aidan thought. 'I don't know if I can take down a legendary Pokemon...'

"Fusion Bolt!" Another giant lightning bolt rained down from the heavens. This one struck Blaziken dead on. Severely weakened, Blaziken could barely stand. "Ok, let's finish it. Dragon Claw!" Zekrom landed, then charged at Blaziken, sharp claws at the ready.

"Counter it. Mirror Move!" Blaziken's eyes twinkled as it bared its claws. They were coated in the same dragon-like aura as Zekrom's claws. Blaziken waited for Zekrom to draw near. Zekrom slashed at Blaziken, but a quick dodge to the right took Blaziken out of harm's way and it struck back. Zekrom roared as it was struck.

"Zen Headbutt!" A blue light shot up to Zekrom's forehead as it focused. It then charged at Blaziken.

"Sky Uppercut!" Blaziken threw an uppercut in an attempt to counter. Zekrom was a bit faster, though, and Zen Headbutt struck it's target. Blaziken flew backwards into the wall and was knocked out cold.

"Blaziken is unable to battle. Zekrom wins!" the referee called from his sheltered area. Aidan silently returned Blaziken. She was down to her last Pokemon and was facing a legendary Pokemon. Wordlessly, she pulled out her final Poke Ball. She looked up, and while she didn't look overly confident, she had a very calm air about her. 'In the past, I probably would've freaked out over facing something like this. My body's telling me to go wild and try to dominate this thing, but I know better than that. Relax, focus, and be calm about it...' she though as she sent out her final Pokemon. "Golurk, the stage is set!" The Poke Ball burst open and from the light emerged a large, ghostly, armored golem. It made no motions as it faced down Zekrom.

"Golurk vs. Zekrom. Begin!"

"Golurk, Earthquake!" The golem simply stomped the ground and a powerful shockwave was unleashed. Zekrom flew over it, though.

"Dragon Claw!" Zekrom rushed up to Golurk and slashed at it.

"Counter with Hammer Arm!" Golurk swung its heavy arm at Zekrom to counter the Dragon Claw, knocking Zekrom's hand down. Zekrom instinctively snapped at Golurk with a Crunch attack. Instead of passing through Golurk's ghostly body, the Dark-type attack scored a direct hit. Golurk stumbled backwards with Zekrom still latched on to it. "Quick, give it a Heavy Slam!" Golurk fell forwards with Zekrom still attached to it. The two gargantuan Pokemon fell to the ground with Golurk landing on top of Zekrom. However, Zekrom outweighed Golurk, so Heavy Slam's power was reduced slightly. Zekrom detached itself from Golurk and got back up. The golem lifted itself back up and faced Zekrom. A look of cold confidence crossed both trainers faces as they locked themselves in to the zone of battle.

"Zekrom, Zen Headbutt!" Zekrom focused power to its forehead, then charged at Golurk.

"Golurk, Shadow Ball!" A shadowy blob formed in one of Golurk's hands and it hurled it at Zekrom. The blob collided with the charging Zekrom and a stalemate resulted. Aidan used this opportunity to strike because she figured on there being no other opportunities after this. "Now's our chance! Earthquake!" Golurk stomped the ground and loosed a quake. Zekrom was caught in the middle of its futile attempt to break the stalemate with the Shadow Ball, so it took the full force of the Earthquake. Injured, it flung the Shadow Ball away and prepared to strike once more.

"All right, Zekrom, time to end it! Use Outrage!" Zekrom suddenly went berserk and started rampaging around the stadium. Caught off guard, Golurk took a powerful blow and was knocked to the ground. Somehow, it lifted itself back up. Zekrom was still rampaging around, so Aidan had to think of something. Suddenly, the idea clicked.

"Golurk, use Ominous Wind!" A chilling, ghostly wind blew through the stadium. Zekrom took the blow, but didn't seem too fazed. It ran straight at Golurk in the middle of rampaging. 'If this Outrage were to hit, Golurk would surely be knocked out,' Aidan thought. 'Let's try this, then'. "Golurk, counter it with DynamicPunch!" Golurk's fist radiated power and glowed white as it swung a powerful punch at Zekrom. In the middle of the swing, Golurk's Iron Fist Ability kicked in, giving DynamicPunch a power boost. The power exuded by the attack suddenly intensified. Golurk's fist connected with the incoming Zekrom and a stalemate resulted. Neither Pokemon flinched even a centimeter. An explosion of power rocked the stadium as the two attacks combined power and exploded, kicking up a huge cloud of smoke. It was impossible to tell what was happening, but sounds could be heard from inside the cloud of smoke. Golurk and Zekrom were still going at each other. Neither Pokemon was going to give up. This was to be a true fight to the finish. Golurk launched Shadow Balls and DynamicPunches to keep Zekrom on its toes while Zekrom looked for an opening so it could launch another Outrage attack. Occasionally, the sounds of a hit could be heard. All of the hits were just light ones, though. The smoke eventually began to clear, and both Pokemon could be seen huffing and puffing. It was time for one last attack. Zekrom launched itself like a jet at Golurk with an Outrage attack while Golurk swung its fist once again for an Iron Fist boosted DynamicPunch. As the attacks collided, another explosion of power shook the stadium. Both attacks exploded once again, knocking both Pokemon backwards. The combatants stared each other down, knowing that one Pokemon had to go down in the next few seconds; both Pokemon were extremely worn out. The stadium was eerily quiet. Suddenly, Zekrom let out a roar and Golurk let out a strange sound. Both Pokemon hit the ground, unable to continue.

"Both Golurk and Zekrom are unable to battle. It's a double knockout! Because neither trainer has any Pokemon remaining, we will go to instant replay to determine which Pokemon hit the ground first," the referee said. He went over into the sheltered area to view the instant replay. A murmur of chatter could be heard in the stands as the crowd debated which one fainted first. It was an extremely tense moment for both Aidan and Hilbert as they awaited the referee's decision. After about five long minutes, the referee emerged from the booth.

'Spit it out already,' Aidan thought. 'I just want to get this over with now...'

'And the verdict is...?' Hilbert thought. The referee then spoke up.

"After review, we have determined that the Pokemon that hit the ground first was..." a pause for dramatic effect... "Zekrom!"

"No!" Hilbert exclaimed.

"The winner is Golurk, and the match goes to Aidan Gallow of Rustboro City!" The crowd simply erupted into cheering. Aidan just stared in disbelief. She had just defeated the legendary Zekrom. She absentmindedly returned Golurk as the crowd noise rang in her ears.

"What an amazing finish, folks! Aidan has taken down the legendary Zekrom in a battle that went right down to the final attack! I don't think I've ever seen a battle of such epic proportions!" the announcer yelled over the crowd noise. Aidan just stood at her end of the field, utterly stunned at what she had done. She looked around the crowd at all of the cheering faces, finally finding Roy, Lexi, Damon, and Freeze. Roy, Lexi and Damon were cheering just as loudly as the rest of the crowd. Freeze, on the other hand, didn't look like anything had fazed him. Aidan knew better, though; Freeze just didn't show anything outwardly. Freeze turned his head downwards and made eye contact with Aidan. Aidan's heart fluttered a little bit. Freeze then flashed the faintest of smiles, not something he would normally do. Aidan caught it and she smiled back. Her attention was snapped back to the battlefield as Hilbert returned Zekrom and made his way to the center of the field. Aidan did the same. Hilbert extended his hand.

"Excellent job, Aidan. I didn't think anyone could defeat Zekrom. Up until now, I had never been defeated with Zekrom on my side. I think you're definitely earned my respect," Hilbert said.

"Thanks, Hilbert," Aidan said. "I honestly didn't think I could beat Zekrom. I've never even seen a legendary Pokemon before. I'll admit, I was freaking out a little when it came down from the clouds. Thanks for the match, though. You showed me where my Pokemon need improvement and how well my strategy worked, specifically with Skarmory. I'd love to battle you again sometime".

"Come on out to Unova sometime, then. I'll be looking forward to battling you again," Hilbert replied. "Thanks for the match. I'll be waiting for a rematch". He then turned around and walked off, satisfied with the battle. Aidan turned around and went through the tunnel, still absolutely stunned at her victory. When she re-entered the lower level of the stadium, she was mobbed by fans clamoring for an autograph. The defeat of Zekrom had earned Aidan a plethora of fans. Aidan felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people.

"Settle down, people, I'll sign a few autographs," Aidan said. The crowd lined up and started getting Aidan's autograph. After about half an hour, the crowd died down and Aidan was able to take a breather. She noticed the gang out of the corner of her peripheral vision and ran over to them. Lexi was first to speak up when Aidan arrived.

"Oh my gosh, Aidan, that was AMAZING," Lexi exclaimed. "The announcer was right; I don't think I've seen such an epic battle!"

"Ehehe, thanks," Aidan replied. "I didn't think I was gonna win, honestly, especially when he brought out Zekrom".

"Well, either way, I think you've earned yourself a lot of respect and fear," Roy piped up. "Saw you've already got a lot of fans, haha".

"Ha, yeah. It's kinda embarrassing, though".

"Oh well. Hey, we should go find a nice place to eat to celebrate your victory!" Lexi suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Aidan responded.

"I'd love to tag along, but I have to be at the docks a bit later. Remember, I said there was a ship coming in with my sister on it," Roy said.

"Well, we'll come along with you and then go to dinner," Lexi replied.

"Sounds good," Roy said back. "I'd better head that way now so I'm not late". Roy left the group and headed towards the docks.

"Well, I'm gonna get a few things ready, then meet Roy at the docks. See ya in a bit!" Lexi said as she left the stadium, leaving Aidan alone with Freeze, who hadn't said a word yet. Aidan turned to Freeze.

"So... what's up?" Aidan said. Freeze didn't say anything, but simply drew closer.

"Your battle stirred something deep inside of me. My desire to battle was somehow reawakened, like a great beast from its slumber. So it comes as no surprise to me that I want to battle you in the tournament, given the chance," Freeze said. He paused, then continued. "You know, I don't think I've ever met anyone like you. You have such a range of emotion, from wild and carefree to calm and collected and anywhere in between. I'll admit, when I first met you, I was baffled by this. I'm still quite baffled, actually. I don't know if I'll ever understand it, but I can say this... Whatever it is that allows you this range of emotion... it's what makes you who you are. And... I don't want that to ever change". He paused again and took a deep breath. Aidan smiled warmly.

"It's because I care. I know I'm generally kinda wild and goofy, but deep down, I just really care for all of my friends. And for some reason, I think I've shown that side of me to you ten times as often as I've shown it to anyone else. I don't know what it is, but that's just the way things are, I guess".

"Well, whatever it is... don't change it. For me. Please don't change". Freeze drew closer again and hugged Aidan. She hugged back with a sincere smile on her face. Both Freeze and Aidan blushed at the contact. They broke the hug after several seconds.

"Hey, let's get going. I need to do a few things before we meet Roy at the docks," Aidan said.

"Fair enough," Freeze replied. "Oh, by the way, I think we're on good enough terms that you can call me by my real name now".

"Ok then, Freezerburn," Aidan smirked. Freeze (or should I say, Jacob) just rolled his eyes.

"Should've seen that coming," he mumbled.

"Come on, Jacob, let's get going already!"

"All right, all right. Don't rush me". The two left the stadium for the hotel to get ready to meet Roy at the docks and then go to dinner.

/

Meanwhile, on the fifth floor of the Grand Dragon Hotel, a young man sat in his room watching the highlights of the battle that just took place. As he watched Aidan's Golurk duke it out with Hilbert's Zekrom, he just smiled like an idiot.

"Wow, now I didn't expect this," the man said. He shut off the TV and stared out the window. He just shook his head. "I'm proud of you... sis. Keep on winning, 'cuz now I want to battle you".

**Author's Note: And that's that for this chapter. Finally got around to Aidan's battle. So, what do you all think? I kinda just winged it with throwing in Hilbert from Pokemon Black/White there. (I'm not a big fan of B/W, but it's got some decent Pokemon in it *cough*Darmanitan*cough*.) Also, I figured I'd give Hilbert Zekrom just because I have White version and much prefer Zekrom to Reshiram, and the protagonist is the Hero of Ideals in White version. I kinda just randomly picked Hilbert's team members from all the Unova Pokemon.**

**So, this chapter features a long and epic battle between Aidan and Hilbert. I made the final match between Golurk and Zekrom because they're similar in both height and weight (they're both over 9 feet tall and Zekrom has about 40 more lbs of weight than Golurk). Of course, Golurk won because I can't just write Aidan out of the tournament in the first round :P**

**Next chapter will all be out-of-battle. This also marks the end of the first-round battles. The second round starts soon!**

**Where'd all my reviewers go? Y U NO REVIEW? I love getting feedback on my works; it helps me improve. I don't want you to feel pressured into reviewing, but I'd greatly appreciate it if you would review.**

**Fun Fact: When I was writing the parts with Zekrom in them, I decided to listen to Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI. Damn, it felt so epic, writing the scenes with Dancing Mad playing in the background.**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	15. The Gang's All Here

Chapter 12: The Gang's All Here

A moderate breeze blew through the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub. Wingull and Pelipper rode the air currents over the harbor and Chinchou bobbed up and down in the waves. At the docks, Roy, Lexi, Freeze, Aidan, and Damon stood , awaiting an incoming ship. Roy was pacing around restlessly, Freeze looked uninterested, Damon was simply looking out to sea, Aidan was also looking out to sea, and Lexi was trying to get Roy to stop pacing.

"You're gonna wear yourself out, Roy; stop pacing about!" Lexi said.

"I can't stop pacing, though; I'm just so excited," Roy replied.

"Well, you don't want to wear yourself out before the ship arrives, do you?"

"I suppose you've got a point. But still, I just can't stop". Lexi just sighed.

"I don't suppose anything I say is gonna get you to stop. Well, don't say I didn't warn you," she said as she raised her eyebrows and stuck out her tongue a bit. Roy just rolled his eyes.

"Knock it off, you two," Damon said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were going out with each other". Lexi blushed and Roy scoffed.

"As if," Roy said. Off to his left, Freeze twitched his eye.

'Ha, Damon says if HE knew any better, when I'm the one who actually knows,' he thought. 'And if I'm not mistaken, the real reason he's pacing around his because his little lady-friend is on the ship, too". Freeze watched as Roy continued to pace back and forth. While he waited, he closed his eyes and remembered his promise to Lucas. Freeze was now able to think about his brother without the bad memories of Lucas's death plaguing him. 'Don't you worry about a thing, Lucas. I'm gonna fulfill our goal. You can trust me on that,' he thought. He didn't notice that Aidan had slowly been inching over towards him until the last second. "Yes? Something up?" Aidan flinched in surprise that she had been noticed.

"Not really, I was just trying to see how long it would take for you to notice that I was sneaking up on you," she hastily replied, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Yeah, sure you were," Freeze said in a monotone voice. Aidan just slugged him in the arm. The five friends continued to wait for the next hour or so. Everybody's patience was about to give out when they suddenly heard the sound of a ship blowing its horn as it entered the waters of the Battle Hub. Roy's ears instantly perked up and he ran over to the pier where the ship was set to dock. He took a look at the ship and noticed the logo on the side.

'Yep, that's the ship, all right,' he thought. He stopped at the gate to the pier. The other four caught up to him, somewhat out of breath.

"Dude, don't just take off like that," Damon said while catching his breath. "Wait for us next time, ok?"

"Sorry about that; it's just that I'm really excited," Roy replied and grinned sheepishly. It took the ship another 15 minutes to pull into port completely and dock. Roy wasn't showing too much of it outwardly, but he was extremely excited. The exit ramp lowered as the ship docked. Streams of people suddenly poured out of the gates. Roy and the gang had to quickly move aside to avoid getting trampled.

"Whoa, why are they all rushing?" Lexi shouted over the ruckus.

"Search me," Roy replied.

"Hey, watch where you're going, bub!" Aidan threatened to a person who had just ran into her.

"Geez, you'd think they'd never seen a Pokemon battle before," Damon scoffed.

"I hate stampedes," Freeze sighed. As the stampede died down, the gang slowly regained their composure. Roy looked around.

"Huh... I don't see 'em..." he said as he looked out onto the pier. Just then, someone descended the exit ramp. Roy turned his head to see who it was. He instantly recognized the light brown hair and mint green dress. His heart skipped a beat. Jasmine was coming down the ramp. Roy felt his cheeks become exceedingly warm. Jasmine stopped at the bottom of the ramp and looked around, finally laying eyes on Roy. Their eyes met and their hearts fluttered. It had only been a few days, but they felt as if it had been years since they had last seen each other. Jasmine suddenly ran up to Roy and almost tackled him into a hug.

"Roy! I missed you," Jasmine said as she seemingly squeezed the life out of Roy.

"Not... so... tight..." Roy managed to breathe out. "You're... choking me..."

"O-oh! I... I'm sorry..." Jasmine stuttered. "I guess I'm just so excited to see you, ehehe". She loosened her hold on Roy a bit so that he could breathe. Aidan then piped up.

"Well well, never would've guessed you knew Olivine City's Gym Leader," she said.

"Heh, not only that, it happens our boy Roy here is going out with the little lady," Freeze chipped in. Lexi, Aidan, and Damon recoiled in surprise.

"Dammit, Frosty, I was supposed to say that, not have you spoil the surprise," Roy retaliated.

"Frosty? That the best you've got?" Freeze challenged.

"Believe me, you don't want to see the best I've got." Roy warned.

"Right," Freeze said as he rolled his eyes. Damon then stepped forward.

"Well, Roy, you gonna introduce us?" he said.

"Right, sorry. Well, in case you didn't already know, this is Jasmine, the leader of Olivine City Gym and my girlfriend. Go ahead and introduce yourselves, guys".

"Damon Klutch. I'm from Vermillion City".

"My name's Lexi Redstone. I'm from Nuvema Town".

"I'm Aidan Gallow, and I'm from Rustboro City".

"Just call me Freeze. I live in Snowpoint City".

"Nice to meet you all," Jasmine said politely. She then turned to Roy. "So, you been having fun here?"

"Oh yeah. There have been a ton of great battles to watch. You should've seen Aidan's battle just a little while ago. Her Golurk took down the legendary Zekrom!" Jasmine's eyes widened in shock.

"She what?" Jasmine asked incredulously. Jasmine had heard the legends of Reshiram and Zekrom before, but she never even dreamed of hearing of an appearance of one of them.

"Yeah, I defeated Zekrom," Aidan said. "It's gotten me a lot of fans, but they're all hounding me like there's no tomorrow. It's really rather embarrassing".

"Sounds like you're having a rough time with them," Jasmine said.

"It's not too rough, but it's honestly very tiring".

"Hate to interrupt you, but isn't there someone else that I've been waiting for to show up?" Roy interrupted.

"Hm? I don't know what you're talking about," Jasmine said, barely managing to hide the joking tone of voice. Roy gave a skeptical look, but inquired no further. While Jasmine talked with the rest of the group, Roy simply waited.

'Where is she?' he wondered to himself. About ten minutes later, someone else came down the exit ramp from the ship. 'Huh, who would be getting off the ship so long after it arrived at port?' Roy also wondered to himself. He got up to take a closer look. He noticed this individual had long green hair that reached down their back. The figure was clearly feminine. As the person stepped off the ramp, Roy saw a small silver bracelet on the girl's right hand. She wore a red sleeveless shirt and denim jeans, with the shirt reaching a little past her waist. She had red and white shoes on her feet. The gang stopped talking and turned to see this person walking towards them. A small grin broke over Jasmine's face; her facade had worked.

"Who's that?" Damon asked.

"You'll see," Jasmine replied. She turned her head to see what Roy's reaction was going to be. Roy just stood there as the girl approached him.

"S... sis? That you?" Roy asked. The girl nodded.

"It truly has been a long time, brother. I've missed you". Roy took a few steps closer.

"Yes, it has. Seven years, if I recall correctly. It's great to have you back, Terra". Roy and Terra hugged. Smiles broke across the faces of everyone in the group at the touching reunion. Roy eventually turned around. "Guys, more introductions".

"Name's Damon Klutch. I'm from Vermillion City. Your brother beat me in the first round," Damon said.

"I'm Lexi Redstone. I'm from Nuvema Town".

"Aidan Gallow. I'm from Rustboro City".

"Just call me Freeze. I'm from Snowpoint City".

"And you already know who I am," Jasmine said while raising her eyebrows. Terra raised hers in return.

"Ok. It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Terra, Roy's little sister".

"Nice to meet you too, Terra," Lexi said. "Hey, we were all gonna head to dinner soon to celebrate Aidan's victory in the tournament. You want to join us?"

"Sure thing. I could use a good meal," Terra replied.

"Ok! And what about Jasmine?"

"I'd love to," Jasmine answered.

"Ok, then it's settled. We're all going to go find a nice place for dinner". The group then set off from the docks to go find a place to eat. On the way, Roy turned to Jasmine.

"Wait a second... you knew Terra was on the ship the whole time?" he interrogated.

"Yep," Jasmine replied, completely unfazed by the interrogation. "Figured I'd just surprise you like that". A tone of playfulness could be heard as she teased Roy. Roy just sighed.

"Would've been nice to know, but oh well". Roy dropped the subject and continued walking. The group eventually found a nice-looking restaurant to go and eat in. The group entered and waited to be seated. Once seated, they looked through the menus and settled on their choices. After ordering, everyone seemed to lay eyes on Terra.

"So, tell us," Damon started, "how come Roy said you've been missing for seven years?" Terra took a deep breath at this.

"It's a long story, but I do suppose I owe it to you. It all started one normal day just outside Olivine City. I was out just playing with our pet Hoothoot when some guy in what looked like a spacesuit randomly came along. He shouted something about 'Team Galactic can do anything they want because they're gonna rule the universe; and then grabbed me and stuffed me into a massive bag. His commander showed up after that and took me away. When I got out of the bag, I was in Galactic Headquarters in Veilstone City. They locked me up for some time. After a few years, they started trying to get me to join Team Galactic and possibly become a commander. During the two years between those two times, they would give people in the cells a Pokemon and let them occasionally battle under the close eye of a commander. They had seen that I was a natural with Pokemon, so they started pestering me to join them, saying that I could become a commander in less than a year at the pace I was going. Naturally, I refused. This went on for years. After about two years of unsuccessful attempts by the commanders to get me to join... the boss tried." Terra paused to catch her breath and compose herself.

"The boss?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, the boss. A horrible man by the name of Cyrus. He looked as if he had been abusing drugs his whole life and was as pale as a vampire. He claimed that his goal was to rule the universe. As a matter of fact, I was the only prisoner he told his ambition to. I knew of his plans, but there was nothing I could do. He planned to not just rule the universe, but create an entirely new one by reawakening the deities of Time and Space: Dialga and Palkia".

"Oh yeah, Roy told us about that whole Dialga and Palkia thing after you sent him an e-mail," Lexi interjected.

"I happened to be on Mt. Coronet when Cyrus summoned them," Freeze said. "Quite a sight to behold. Good thing those two boys Diamond and Pearl were there to stop Cyrus". At that moment, a voice from the table next to them was heard.

"My my, to witness the reawakening of legends. Fate has truly smiled upon you". Everyone turned around to see a man of approximately 22 years of age. His black, neck-length hair was cropped, and he had a fringe that stopped just above his eyes as well as longer bangs at each side of his face, which was fairly round. His narrow eyes were a deep sapphire color, contrasting well with his peach-colored skin. He wore a dark blue leather trench coat with a white shirt underneath. The shirt's neck guard showed from underneath the trench coat. The trench coat's collar was turned down, and the coat itself was fastened with two belts, the lower of which sloped downwards. One could see the letters 'S' and 'H' sewed into the sleeves of the coat in red thread. He wore fingerless leather gloves on his hands. He also wore blue pants and light brown boots. To top it off, a pair of round glasses rested on his face, giving him a rather scholarly appearance.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Freeze asked.

"My name is of no importance," the man said. "I am simply interested in this story I am overhearing now because I heard you witnessed the reawakening of legends. Normally, I am not one for idle chatter, but this is hardly idle chatter anymore. When legends are mentioned, it piques my curiosity". The man adjusted his glasses as he said this.

"Well, witnessing the reawakening of legends or not, my goal still isn't fulfilled, for those were not the legends I wished to see".

"I see. No matter. Just having seen the deities of time and space, however, is enough to tell me that Arceus himself is watching over you. I don't claim to know what it is you've done to gain his favor, but rest assured that you can meet anything you wish to if Arceus wills it".

"O...k". Freeze began to think to himself. 'This guy is starting to creep me out. Just who is he?"

"But I've spoken too much. Carry on with the story," the man said as he motioned to Terra.

"Right. Well then, after Cyrus failed to get me to join Team Galactic, they just locked me up again. I was there for maybe another year or so. One day, the alarms just started blaring out of nowhere. Apparently, the HQ had intruders. From the prison cells, we could hear a ton of Pokemon battling it out. Just then, a wall burst down and the Sinnoh Gym Leaders came rushing in to free us. They said Diamond and Pearl had gone on ahead to take on Team Galactic. They busted us all out of there and took us to safety. One of them, I think it was Byron of Canalave City, said there were ships waiting to take us all out of Sinnoh. They were all headed to the Hoenn region. Before we could even get on them, though, the battle on Mt. Coronet started. Everything was shut down when Dialga and Palkia emerged. I heard later that Diamond and Pearl stopped Cyrus's ambitions, but were then dragged into the Distortion World. A Pokemon named Giratina had become enraged with Cyrus and dragged him in along with Diamond and Pearl. So after the battle was over, the ships departed for Hoenn. Once I got there, I went into hiding. I hid out in Littleroot Town for a while, and I got my first Pokemon there when I helped Professor Birch with some things at the lab. Once I deemed it safe to come out of hiding, I traveled the Hoenn region, catching Pokemon and seeing the sights. I didn't challenge the gyms because I figured it would get attention and there still might've been Team Galactic agents lurking around. So, after some time, I learned that Team Galactic had essentially disbanded. It was about then that I decided that I should return home. So I sent out that email to Roy and mom. Of course, there were no ships heading to Olivine City from either Lilycove or Slateport, so I decided to come straight here and surprise Roy. And now, here I am". Everyone looked over to the man in blue, but he did not speak up, indicating he had either tuned the story out, or was mulling over something.

"Well, I heard part of the story from Roy, but who would've figured this would happen to you?" Lexi said.

"I know, it just seems a little too mysterious," Damon added.

"What was Team Galactic doing in Johto in the first place?" Aidan wondered.

"I think I can answer that," the man in blue spoke up. Everyone looked over to him.

"Well, please do," Damon said. "We'd love some clarification here".

"My guess is that Team Galactic was searching for potential recruits. Not just any recruits, but ones with talent. They obviously saw something in this young lady, so they took her away when she attempted to resist. Now, judging from what she said earlier about the grunt simply stuffing her into a bag, I would imagine that the grunt wasn't told the true purpose of the mission, as organizations like Team Galactic are so wont to do," the man in blue explained.

"Whoa, how do you know all this?" Lexi wondered.

"Simply put, I have witnessed many things in my life. People say I am one of the most knowledgeable men in the world. Now, I wouldn't say that, but I do know a few things". He adjusted his glasses.

"Well, uh, thanks for the insight," Damon said. He went to turn back around, but was stopped by the man in blue.

"You can hardly expect to just turn away from me without wishing for compensation for imparting my wisdom with you," he said mysteriously. Damon turned back around.

"Ok, so you want me to pay you. How much?"

"I do not require money. Perhaps you could part with something that isn't essential to you".

"Well, I don't know what you could possibly be talking about..." Damon paused when he saw the man in blue staring directly into his eyes. His posture indicated there was something there that he wanted. "W... wait a sec, my contacts?" The man nodded.

"Yes. Red is not your natural eye color, am I right? Therefore, those contacts shall be the payment".

"N... no way, man! I can't just replace these; they're really expensive!"

"I require the payment. If you do not pay," he lowered his voice threateningly, "the consequences shall be dire indeed". Damon gulped. Normally, he was the one who intimidated people, but he was getting severely unnerved by this mysterious man in a blue trench coat. Reluctantly, he sighed and gave in.

"All right, all right, I'll give you the damn contacts. Just give me a minute or two to get them out". He got up and went to the restroom to get his contacts out. While he was there, the group remained silent, somewhat intimidated by the man in blue. Damon soon came back with his contacts out. He put them into the man's outstretched hand.

"Here. I suppose they're yours now," he said begrudgingly. The man accepted the payment with a nod. Damon's natural light blue eyes were now visible. He grimaced at the thought, as he perceived himself to look somewhat albino with his natural eye color. He sat down and just sighed in defeat. The man in blue then turned to Freeze.

"You there," he started.

"Me?" Freeze asked.

"Yes, you. By looking into your eyes, I can tell that a heavy load burdens you. Yet, at the same time, I also see desire and motivation. You're an interesting one, you. Would you care to share your story?"

"No. It's something of a touchy subject for me. I only tell it to those closest to me. But I will say this. Your observation is fairly accurate; though I wouldn't call it a burden. But, it is this that drives me. It motivates me to meet the goal I set for myself many years ago".

"I see. Well, I believe your meals have arrived. I finished mine a while ago, so I shall leave you to your food". With that, he stood up from his seat and began walking to the exit with a swish of his coat. He passed by Freeze on the way out and whispered something into his ear. "I shall find out what your burden is, one way or another. I have my ways. Your tome of life will not remain empty". He then walked away. Freeze turned to the group with a slightly unnerved look on his face.

"Um... ok, that was awkward. Shall we just eat?" The entire table nodded in agreement. They ate their meals in silence. Nobody dared to break the awkward silence left there when the mysterious man in blue had left. The finished their meals in due time and walked back to the hotel rooms. Terra checked in to the hotel and received her key. Her room was located a little ways down the hall from Roy's. Once in their rooms, they all began to relax in preparation for sleep. Roy heard a knock on his door and went to open it. Freeze was standing outside.

"Oh, hey Freeze. Need something?"

"Yes, I was wondering if I could use your laptop quickly. I need to look up something".

"Sure thing. Come on in". Freeze entered. "Laptop is over on the desk," Roy pointed out.

"Alright then," Freeze replied. In his mind, he thought, 'I have to find out more about that mysterious man we saw at the restaurant tonight. Something about him just bugs me. What did he mean by 'Your tome of life will not remain empty'?' Freeze opened up the internet browser and went to the tournament's participant database, hoping to find something. He scrolled through the list of participants. The list seemed almost endless. He had just about reached the bottom of the list when he saw the mugshot of the man they had seen at the restaurant. Freeze quickly clicked on the man's mugshot, which brought up his data. 'Hmm, let's see here... there really isn't a whole lot of data on him or his Pokemon... but it does say he's from the White Forest in the Unova region... maybe the White Forest has something to do with him being as strange as he is... now what's his name?" He scrolled up to the top of the page. "Hmm... His name is Seishiro Hiwatari...: He turned to Roy, who was on his bed watching TV. "Hey Roy, come here for a moment".

"Hm? Sure". Roy got up and walked over to Freeze.

"Something about this guy seems familiar. It's the guy we met at the restaurant today, but it's his name that rings a bell. Have you ever heard of this guy?" Freeze leaned out of the way so Roy could get a closer look.

"Hmm... Seishiro Hiwatari... oh! He's that guy from, like, seven years ago! He was a world-famous battler. They say the man's unbeatable! But I thought he had retired from battling. As a matter of fact, it was right around the time Terra went missing that this guy announced he was retiring from the Pokemon battling circuit. I remember watching this guy on TV all the time. Nobody could ever beat him. But... man, he's in this tournament, there's no mistaking it. Wow, man, I was a big fan of him when I was a kid 'cause of his dominant battling style. I wanted to be as strong as he was, and probably still is. But... his actions and demeanor at the restaurant... man, that creeped me out. I always knew he was something of a strange guy just by his look, but damn, man, that was just unnerving. Well hey, at least we know this guy's in the tournament, and if he's as strong as they say he is, we'd best be fully prepared for the fight of our lives". Roy walked back over to his bed. "Ha, I'm glad I let you look the guy up, 'cuz now we know we've got some real strong competition".

"Sure looks like it," Freeze responded. He closed the browser and shut the laptop down. "Thanks for letting me use the laptop".

"No problem".

"Right then, I'd best head back into my room. The draw for Round 2 is tomorrow morning. Don't want to miss that". With that, Freeze left and went back to his room. Once there, he locked the door and prepared to go to sleep. A few hours passed and he found himself unable to sleep, plagued by thoughts of what Seishiro said to him just before he had left the restaurant: 'Your tome of life will not remain empty'. Freeze began to wonder, 'Just what the hell did he mean by that? Tome of life... does he mean my life story? Could he possibly be referring to me meeting my ultimate goal of meeting Articuno? And when he said it won't remain empty, it's like he was implying that he knew I would meet the goal. Just what is this guy trying to pull? Is this all a trick to get me to doubt myself? I just don't understand... Well, I suppose it wouldn't do any good to dwell on it. I need to sleep". With that, he turned over and tried to sleep.

**Author's Note: Alright, this chapter is finally done. Sorry this took a while; I kept losing motivation to write this chapter. Slow-moving chapters unfortunately have this effect on me. This chapter introduces yet another user-submitted OC: Seishiro Hiwatari submitted by Tendou Souji. When he submitted this character, I instantly knew I wanted to use him in this story. Seishiro was submitted with a very nice amount of backstory and character. He'll be a somewhat major player in the story. Also, you should check out Tendou Souji's stories, especially Zenith League. Tendou is an amazing writer, so you will not be disappointed by his stories.**

**Ok, so, we got some more plot stuff out of the way in this chapter. Terra and Jasmine have arrived at the Battle Hub to watch Roy in the tournament (and, by default, the rest of the gang). Seishiro makes an appearance out of nowhere at the restaurant and seems to creep the gang out. He's taken interest in Freeze's past, so what's he got in store there?**

**Next time: the draw for the second round will take place. User-submitted OC's will litter the next chapter, so here's your warning, lol.**

**Fun Fact: When Seishiro says 'Your tome of life will not remain empty', I based that line off of the title of a song. It is 'An Empty Tome' from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.**

**Also, one announcement. I have plans for another story. It's going to be a crossover story involving characters from The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and Final Fantasy. I will have a poll on my profile to see which characters I should use as heroes (I should note that I will be selecting the LoZ characters myself). I'll also decide on the villains (so NO SEPHIROTH). **

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	16. Round Two! Ready?

Chapter 13: Round Two! Ready?

The sun shone brightly as the Indigo Plateau Battle Hub began to buzz with activity. Today marked the start of the second round of the Great Victory Tournament. The draw for the second round was set to start soon, and the streets were lined with people making their way to the stadium to watch the draw. Trainers were finishing their preparations for whoever they might face in the second round and gathered on the battlefield to await the announcement of matchups. Once it seemed as though the entire Battle Hub had gathered, Lance the Dragon Master took his spot at the podium.

"Greetings, one and all!" he started in a grandiose manner. "I wish to congratulate all of you who have made it through to the second round. From here on out, though, everything is going to take a step up in difficulty. All of you trainers will likely be fighting for survival in this tournament. Don't take these battles lightly, otherwise you might find yourself shown to the exit". His cape fluttered in the breeze. "Now, it is time to reveal the matches in the second round! The computer has finished randomizing the matchups. Without further ado, let us see them!" With a swish of his cape, Lance moved out of the way and turned around so that everyone could see the screen with all the matchups. Pictures of all the remaining trainers flashed up and started moving everywhere as the randomizer kept the suspense up. Eventually, the screen finished randomizing and a beep signaled that the matchups were set. The trainers scanned the board for their pictures. Some trainers groaned, knowing that they were in for a rough time with their opponents, others breathed a sigh of relief, and still others remained silent. Lance came back up to the podium. "All right. The matchups are set. The first battle is set to start in two hours. I wish you all luck as you fight to advance further". Lance stepped down from the podium and the crowd that had gathered began to cheer in anticipation of the first battle of the second round.

/

On the field, Roy and the gang continued to scan the matchup board, eager to find out who they would be facing. Roy laid eyes on his matchup first.

"Hmm... looks like a good matchup," he said to himself. His opponent was a girl of about 19 years of age. According to her mugshot, she had bluish-green eyes and long, wavy, brown hair with a blonde highlight going past her shoulders. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, with two strands forming a frame around her face. Her skin looked fair-toned, and there was a scar right under her left eyebrow. Roy looked for a name. "...Pamela... Falkowski, Ok, now I know who I'm up against". He turned to the rest of the gang, who had finished scanning for their matchups moments ago. "So, everyone know who they're up against?" he asked.

"Yep," Lexi nodded in reply. I don't think Freeze is any bit fazed by his matchup, but he never tells us anything, so there's no telling what he's thinking. As for Aidan, she hasn't said anything either. Me? I think I'll win".

"Right then. Who's battling when?"

"I'm battling tomorrow. Freeze is in a couple of days, and Aidan is battling in three days".

"All right. As it happens, I have the late battle today".

"Well, all right then. We'll make sure to be there!"

"Ok. Time to go prepare for battle". Roy turned around and headed for the waiting area. Lexi, Aidan, and Freeze all went out of the stadium. Freeze stopped, however, and went back to the board to check something. He scanned the board again and eventually found who he was looking for. He came across Seishiro's mugshot on the left side of the board. His opponent didn't look like much, so Freeze almost felt bad for the person having to face Seishiro.

'If that guy has a similar experience like we had with Seishiro, he's gonna go home mentally scarred,' he thought. He turned around and left the stadium so everything could be moved out to prepare for the battles.

/

In the waiting room, Roy simply sat at the back end with his headphones in, listening to music and humming tunes. Trainers participating in the battles held today came and went as they pleased. Most of them simply checked the TV to see what was going on in the other battles taking place. Roy would occasionally look up at the TV to see what was going on, though most of the battles didn't catch his eye. One in particular seemed to have a good battle going on between a Krookodile and Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen would charge in with a Superpower ready to score a super-effective hit on Krookodile, but the crocodile Pokemon would counter with Earthquake before Nidoqueen had a chance to close the distance. While watching this battle, Roy was contemplating which Pokemon to use in the upcoming battle. It took him a little while to decide, but he figured he was going to win regardless, such was his confidence in his abilities. Once he finalized his team, he walked over to the counter at the waiting area entrance to register his team for the upcoming fight.

(Several hours pass)

The sun was midway through its evening descent, and it was time for Roy to step onto the battlefield. He waited at the tunnel for the announcer to call out the introductions.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to introduce the competitors in this battle! First up, in the green corner, from Olivine City, it's Roy Ashford!" The crowd cheered as Roy stepped out of the tunnel, confident look on his face and hat adjusted perfectly. "Now, in the red corner, from Pallet Town, Pamela Falkowski!" The red tunnel opened up and Pamela stepped out. Roy recognized the hair and eyes from the mugshot on the board earlier. Pamela wore a teal halter top and black skinny jeans, with a black choker around her neck, On her feet were teal and white hightops. Her clothing helped accentuate her curvy, hourglass shaped figure. Many young males in the crowd instantly started drooling at the sight of her. Roy had to admit, those guys in the crowd had the right idea. There was no denying that Pamela was pretty good-looking. But either way, his heart belonged to Jasmine, and that wasn't going to change. Roy and Pamela walked to the center of the battlefield as the referee stepped out and beckoned them.

"Trainers, introduce yourselves," the referee commanded. Roy was first to extend his hand.

"Roy Ashford, Olivine City. Looking forward to a good match". Pamela then extended her hand and shook Roy's.

"Pamela Falkowski, Pallet Town. Don't worry, I won't disappoint you. I'm just hoping you'll pose a challenge. My last opponent didn't offer much of one". The trainers returned to their sides of the field and waited for the referee.

"Trainers ready?" the ref called.

"Ready," both trainers answered.

"Select your Pokemon!"

"All right, let's lead off with... Weezing!" Roy called and tossed out a Poke Ball. Out from the ball burst a large, spherical, purple thing with a face with a smaller purple sphere attached to its side and joined at the back by an even smaller purple sphere. It spewed noxious gas from the ports on its body.

"Arbok, get on out there!" Pamela called and threw out a Poke Ball. A large purple cobra with a strange pattern on its belly emerged from the light.

"Weezing vs. Arbok! Begin!" The referee raised his flags to signal the start of the bout.

"Weezing, give 'em a curveball right off the bat! Will-o-wisp!" A sinister bluish-white flame was shot from Weezing's mouth.

"We can dodge that, Arbok!" Arbok used its tail as a springboard and dodged the incoming flame. "Now, use Glare!" The cobra fully exposed the pattern on its belly and a glint appeared on it momentarily, stopping Weezing completely with paralysis.

"Argh, that one backfired... Weezing, try a Thunderbolt!" Weezing's body began to spark with electricity. Once it had built up, Weezing loosed a strong blast of lightning at Arbok.

"Dodge and use Crunch!" Arbok dodged the Thunderbolt with ease and launched itself at Weezing, baring its fangs. Weezing, being paralyzed, wasn't quick enough to dodge and was bitten. Roy seized this opportunity for a close-range attack.

"Now, use Flamethrower!" A blast of fire streamed from Weezing's mouth. With nowhere to go, Arbok took a direct hit and was flung backwards. Parts of Arbok's skin were charred from the attack, and one in particular made the cobra wince in pain. "Hm, looks like it got burned. Well, I suppose this works too, compared to Will-o-wisp. All right, now let's keep up the offensive. Sludge Bomb!" A blob of filthy sludge was hurled at Arbok. It took the hit, but didn't take much damage as Poison-type attacks don't do well against fellow Poison-types.

"Shake it off, Arbok. Use Ice Fang!" Arbok once again launched itself at the Poison Gas Pokemon, this time with its fangs infused with icy energy. As it bit down, however, it found itself on the receiving end of another Flamethrower attack. It was knocked back as the scorching flames seared it. Suffering from an already bad burn, it looked like Arbok was running out of time.

"Ok, Weezing, let's strike 'em out! Thunderbolt!" A strong electric blast shot out of Weezing. Arbok was zapped silly by the lightning and fell to the ground.

"Arbok is unable to battle. Weezing wins!" The referee raised his green flag, signaling Weezing had won the bout.

"Aww... Arbok, return," Pamela said as she returned Arbok to its Poke Ball. She made her next selection in an instant. "Lapras, you're up!" The ball burst open and a sea creature that somewhat resembled a small plesiosaur with an armored shell on its back emerged from the light. It had a gentle look in its eyes.

"Weezing vs. Lapras. Begin!"

"Lapras, give it an Ice Beam!" The sea creature opened its mouth and fired an icy beam of energy at the Poison Gas Pokemon. Still paralyzed by Glare, Weezing couldn't dodge the attack. The damage it had suffered had stacked over time, and the Ice Beam finished it off. Weezing fell to the ground, unable to stay afloat.

"Weezing is unable to battle. Lapras wins!" The referee raised his red flag.

"Wow, a one-turn knockout! Weezing must have been extremely tired from the previous battle, so Lapras' Ice Beam was just too much for it!" the announcer exclaimed.

"Well, darn. Weezing, return," Roy said as he called Weezing back. He took out his next Poke Ball, set up his stance like a pitcher in baseball, and threw a clean fastball out into the battlefield. "Breloom, strike 'em out!" The ball burst open and out came a mushroom-like Pokemon on two legs. Its arms appeared too short to hit anything, but any trainer knew Breloom could stretch its arms to crazy lengths.

"Breloom vs. Lapras. Begin!"

"All right, Breloom, ThunderPunch!" Breloom's fist became electrified and it dashed up to Lapras. Breloom was so fast that Lapras didn't see it coming. It took a good, hard hit.

"Lapras, Ice Beam again!" Another icy beam of energy was shot out of Lapras' mouth.

"Dodge, then use Seed Bomb!" Breloom hopped to its right, then fired a round of hard-shelled seeds at Lapras.

"Block those seeds with Ice Shard!" Lapras flash-froze chunks of Ice and launched them at the incoming seeds. Each seed connected with a few shards of ice, canceling out both attacks. "Now, Water Pulse!" Lapras shot a pulsing blast of water at Breloom.

"No sweat. Breloom, Substitute!" Breloom seemingly vanished and in its place was a small doll-like object. The doll took the Water Pulse attack for Breloom. The doll maintained Breloom's typing, so the attack did minimal damage. "Now, Breloom, Spore!" The Substitute faded away and Breloom took its place. Breloom scattered spores all over the field. Lapras accidentally inhaled some of the spores and fell right to sleep. Breloom then faded away again and the Substitute took its place.

"Uh oh, Lapras is asleep! A sleeping Pokemon will make this battle one-sided unless the trainer can think of something!" the announcer shouted over the roar of the crowd. Pamela already knew what Roy was up to, though. It was a popular strategy among Breloom users known as SporePunch. The plan was to use Spore to get an opponent to fall asleep, then get up a free Substitute as the opponent switched. Then, from behind the Substitute, one could pull off a Focus Punch, a very powerful Fighting-type attack that required use at the end of the turn. However, if the Pokemon were to be hit by a damaging attack, it would lose its focus and be unable to move, which was the point of hiding behind a Substitute. The Substitute would take all damage aimed at Breloom until the preset HP total for it ran out and would absorb all status conditions, making moves like Thunder Wave useless. It was a very effective strategy that almost always forced a switch. Pamela decided she was going to predict the use of Focus Punch and held out her Lapras' Poke Ball.

"Lapras, return!" she shouted.

"Oh, a Pokemon switch! What will Pamela bring out next?"

"Ledian, go!" The ball opened and a ladybug Pokemon flew out. Its black glowed red occasionally.

"Breloom vs. Ledian. Begin!"

"Damn! I wasn't expecting this switch!" Roy muttered. Breloom had faded back into existence and launched a Focus Punch. Ledian took the hit like a champ due to its major resistance to Fighting-type attacks. The Substitute then took Breloom's place.

"Ledian, Bug Buzz!" Ledian beat its wings and a horrible screeching sound echoed throughout the stadium. Many spectators covered their ears to shield themselves from the horrid sound. On the field, the Substitute took the hit for Breloom and then faded away, having spent all of the energy poured into it. Breloom reappeared, looking slightly weakened from sacrificing some HP to create the Substitute.

"Ok, this isn't a time to take chances. Breloom, return!" Roy held out his Poke Ball and switched Breloom out.

"Another Pokemon switch, folks! These trainers must have carefully plotted their strategies before battle!" the announcer said.

"Pidgeot, soar!" Roy called. The ball opened and the majestic bird Pokemon emerged from the light. It ruffled its feathers a bit.

"Pidgeot vs. Ledian. Begin!"

"Hit 'em with the high heat! Use Heat Wave!" Pidgeot exhaled a wave of hot air at Ledian.

"Dodge, then use Swift!" Ledian somehow dodge the wave of heat and fired star-shaped rays at Pidgeot. Pidgeot took the hit, but didn't seem too fazed by it.

"Take to the skies!" Pidgeot spread its wings and took off into the sky. Ledian, being a simple ladybug, couldn't fly that high, so it was a sitting duck for whatever Pidgeot decided to throw at it. A Heat Wave suddenly shot out from a cloud and Ledian took a direct hit. Had the attack been launched from something like a Charizard, Ledian would've been knocked out due to the Same-Type Attack Bonus, or STAB, the move would have received. Ledian struggled to maintain flight. :All right, Pidgeot, finish it with Aerial Ace!" Pidgeot dove straight down out of the clouds and aimed straight for Ledian.

"Quick, Ledian, block it with Comet Punch!" As Pidgeot closed in, Ledian readied its four hands for a flurry of punches. Just as Pidgeot was in range, Ledian loosed its Comet Punch. A blindingly fast flurry of punches knocked Pidgeot back. Pidgeot was undeterred, however.

"Ok then, use Steel Wing!" Pidgeot's wings hardened and it swooped in low to strike.

"Counter with Supersonic!" An ear-splitting sound wave was produced from Ledian's wings. Pidgeot was stopped in its tracks by the sound wave and suddenly went flying off in another direction. Supersonic had succeeded in confusing Pidgeot.

"Damn, didn't expect a Ledian to be this good. Ledian are normally pretty sub-par," Roy muttered. With Pidgeot simply flying around, however, he thought he could possibly stall it out and wait for the confusion to wear off. He decided to not issue a command.

"All right, it's working!" Pamela grinned. "Now let's take it down bit by bit! Swift!" Ledian fired stars at Pidgeot. Despite Pidgeot's erratic flying, the stars homed in and struck their target. Pidgeot maintained flight, though. "Keep it up! Barrage it with Swift attacks!" Ledian perpetually fired more and more stars at Pidgeot that all homed in. Roy was beginning to worry.

'I don't know how much more of this Pidgeot can take...' he thought. As Pidgeot wildly flew about with no sense of direction, stars continued to close in on it. Just then, it clicked. An area-effect attack would blow the stars away if Pidgeot could pull it off. It was a risky move, but it was Roy's only option at this point. "Pidgeot, Heat Wave!" Pidgeot swooped down in mindless flight and turned around just in time to actually see the stars it was attempting to evade. It exhaled a hot breath and blew away the stars. Roy breathed a sigh of relief as he wasn't sure if his plan would work. 'Phew, got really lucky there...' he thought.

"Darn, how did he do that?" Pamela wondered out loud. "No matter. Ledian, Comet Punch!" Ledian zipped up to the still-confused Pidgeot and pummeled it with a flurry of punches. Despite being pelted with such a large number of punches in quick succession, Pidgeot still maintained flight. It shook its feathers and snapped out of its daze.

"Now, close-range Heat Wave!" before Ledian had a chance to dodge, it was struck by a wave of hot air at point-blank range. Unable to maintain flight any longer, it fell to the ground.

"Ledian is unable to battle. Pidgeot wins!"

"Return, Ledian," Pamela called as she returned Ledian to its Poke Ball. She tossed out her next Poke all quickly. "Delcatty, you're up!" The ball opened and a cream-colored cat Pokemon with tufts of purple fur emerged. It let out a meow and flicked its tail to and fro.

"Pidgeot vs. Delcatty. Begin!"

"Delcatty, Blizzard, if you please" The Prim Pokemon opened its mouth and a howling blizzard engulfed the stadium. With nowhere to go to avoid the attack, Pidgeot took a crushing blow and lost flight,hitting the ground with a thud.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle. Delcatty wins!"

"Ack! Pidgeot, return!" Roy called and returned Pidgeot. 'She certainly knows what she's doing,' he thought. 'This is gonna be tougher than I expected. Anyways, it's time for my cleanup hitter'. He pulled out a Poke Ball and went into a windup, throwing a fastball out onto the battlefield. "Aggron, get 'em!" The ball opened and a steel-armored dinosaur Pokemon burst out. It loosed a battle cry and readied itself.

"Aggron vs. Delcatty. Begin!"

"Aggron, we're swinging at the first pitch! Iron Tail!" Aggron's tail glowed white and it launched itself at Delcatty, swinging its massive tail.

"Blow it back with Blizzard!" Delcatty shot out another howling Blizzard in an effort to stop Aggron's advance. Aggron weathered the hit, however, as it's part Steel typing gave it a strong resistance to Ice-type attacks. Aggron continued charging at Delcatty and swing its Iron Tail attack, scoring a solid blow and sending the Prim Pokemon flying into the wall. Delcatty got back up, but was severely dazed from the hit.

"I'd say that was good for a double, Aggron. Now let's smack one out of the park! Double-edge!" Aggron took off towards Delcatty in a reckless charging attack.

"Dodge it, Delcatty!" Delcatty shook itself to snap out of its daze and leaped to the right to avoid Aggron's Double-edge.

"Argh, swing and a miss. Try ThunderPunch!" Aggron electrified its fist and brought it down on Delcatty. The cat Pokemon was hit and got knocked back a ways.

'I've gotta do something to stop this monster, otherwise I'll lose my numbers advantage,' Pamela thought. "Delcatty, use Sing!" A soothing melody emanated from Delcatty. Some of the members of the crowd began to fall asleep upon hearing it. Aggron, however, merely snorted.

"Heh, Aggron must not like your music," Roy commented. "Now's the time, Aggron. Double-edge!" Aggron charged at Delcatty recklessly. Having just finished its Sing move, Delcatty didn't have time to dodge. Aggron delivered a bone-crushing blow that sent Delcatty flying high into the sky. Aggron stood its ground after the attack because its ability, Rock Head, prevented the recoil damage Double-edge normally causes. Roy looked up into the sky to see where Delcatty would land. He projected that it was going to land just beyond the wall behind Pamela and grinned. Eventually, Delcatty indeed fell beyond the wall behind Pamela, but a kind spectator caught the falling Pokemon to prevent further harm to it. Roy breathed a sigh of relief that Delcatty wasn't too severely injured; he'd hate to have that weighing on his conscience.

"Delcatty is unable to battle. Aggron wins!"

"Would you look at that, folks? Aggron launched Delcatty like a baseball and scored itself a home run!" the announcer exclaimed.

"Delcatty, return," Pamela called and returned Delcatty. She sighed in relief that Delcatty wasn't too badly hurt. 'Ok, looks like he's decided to go all out. Hopefully I can get a bit lucky here and turn the tide back in my favor,' she thought. An onlooker would describe this battle as a carefully thought-out game of chess. Both trainers would battle back from a previous defeat with authority only to have that countered by an equally impressive comeback. It was like two head coaches of sports teams drawing up schemes to outduel their opponent. This battle was still up in the air. Pamela threw out her Poke Ball. "Lapras, get back out there!" The ball opened and Lapras re-entered the battle. The effects of sleep from the earlier Spore attack it had taken had not worn off.

"Aggron vs. Lapras. Begin!"

"It appears Lapras is still asleep from the Spore attack it took earlier. How is this going to affect the battle?" the announcer wondered.

"It won't matter. Lapras will wake up soon and it'll be all over for Aggron," Pamela said.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen," Roy countered. "Aggron, ThunderPunch!" Aggron charged at Lapras with an electrified fist. Lapras took a direct hit, seeing as it couldn't move while asleep. "Keep it up, Aggron! You're almost there!" Aggron continued to pound Lapras with ThunderPunch while Lapras continued to weather the hits. Suddenly Lapras woke up and dodged a ThunderPunch.

"At last! Lapras, Hydro Pump!" A blast of high-pressure water shot from Lapras' mouth and scored a heavy blow on Aggron. Aggron was knocked back quite far from the hit and had taken severe damage.

'Not good. Aggron can't take another Hydro Pump... I have to get in another hit before Aggron gets blasted again. If Aggron can't take it out, then my next one will,' Roy thought. "Aggron, try Double-edge!" Aggron charged at Lapras, ready to strike a decisive blow.

"Not a chance. Hydro Pump!" Lapras loosed a blast of water at Aggron. Aggron, being a heavy, steel-clad dinosaur, couldn't change direction fast enough to dodge and took another direct hit. The water carried it back into the wall and slammed it there. The whole stadium shook with the force of the blow. Aggron slid down the wall with spirals in its eyes.

"Aggron is unable to battle. Lapras wins!"

"Argh, struck out. Aggron, return," Roy said and called Aggron back. "Looks like it's up to the bottom of the order. Alakazam, go!" He tossed a Poke Ball and out burst a yellow humanoid Pokemon with two long, thick whiskers and a spoon in each hand. It stared down Lapras as it awaited a command. Roy grinned as beating Alakazam was not going to be easy.

"Alakazam vs. Lapras. Begin!"

"No chance for you! Lapras, use Body Slam!" Pamela called. Lapras made its way to Alakazam and hovered over it, ready to drop its full body on top of the humanoid Psi Pokemon. Given Alakazam's paper-thin defense, it was likely it would be knocked out in one hit. However, Alakazam showed no surprise. It raised its spoons and formed a wall of light around itself. Lapras dropped itself down, but was stopped in midair by the wall of light. Lapras bounced off of the wall, stunned. "What? Was that Reflect?" Pamela wondered.

"Yep, that was Reflect. Alakazam knows the perfect times to use Reflect from all the training its undergone. That, and I don't even need to command it. Alakazam has amazing psychic powers, and its mental capacity and powers allow me to communicate to it telepathically. How can you beat a foe that doesn't have commands to read?" Roy said. No further words were spoken as Alakazam readied itself. The Psi Pokemon closed its eyes and focused its power; a Calm Mind technique. Now, all of its special-based attacks would do increased damage, and its defenses against special-based attacks were boosted. It reopened its eyes and lifted its spoons, readying an attack. A green ball formed between the spoons and Alakazam launched it at Lapras, scoring a devastating hit. The move was Energy Ball, a Grass-type attack. It scored a super-effective hit on Lapras and received a boost from Calm Mind. Having already been weakened from the repeated ThunderPunches earlier, Lapras was knocked right out.

"Lapras is unable to battle. Alakazam wins!"

"Lapras, return," Pamela said as she called Lapras back. "Looks like I've got to bring out my big guns to beat you. Lucario, you're up!" Pamela tossed a Poke Ball and a blue humanoid dog-like Pokemon on two legs burst out. Its body was mainly an off-yellow and it had a silver spike protruding from its chest. A blue flame-like aura radiated around it.

"Alakazam vs. Lucario. Begin!"

"I see. You aim to see which is better, Lucario's aura powers or Alakazam's psychic powers. Well, let me prove to you that my Alakazam has refined its powers so much that it just will not be bested. Alakazam, you know what to do," Roy called. Alakazam focused and raised its spoons. Lucario found itself being mentally assaulted by Alakazam's psychic powers. Lucario focused its aura powers to block out the assault. What seemed to the spectators like a waiting battle was actually a battle of mental willpower. Beads of sweat appeared on the faces of both Pokemon as each one struggled to prevail. Occasionally, one of the Pokemon would twitch, indicating the other was making a successful push.

"This battle of wills is truly a test of patience for the spectators. How much longer is this going to last?" the announcer said. Down on the field, neither Alakazam nor Lucario were giving an inch. The trainers were truly being put through the ultimate test of patience. After a prolonged battle of willpower, both Pokemon stopped, their energy mostly spent. Both Pokemon were breathing heavily.

"Not a moment to waste, Lucario! Use Dark Pulse!" Lucario growled and loosed a wave of dark energy at Alakazam. The Psi Pokemon, though tired, simply hovered over the dark wave. It then loosed a blast of psychic energy; its Psychic attack. Lucario was blown backwards by the invisible blast of psychic energy. "Argh, come on, Lucario! Use Aura Sphere!" Lucario picked itself back up and formed a ball of aura energy in its hands. It fired it like Ryu would fire a Hadoken. Alakazam saw the ball of aura energy closing in and shot an Energy Ball to counter it. The attacks exploded, kicking up a dust cloud. Pamela seized this opportunity. "Lucario, get in there! Metal Claw!" Lucario's hands glowed white and it dashed right into the dust cloud, hoping to use it as cover. Alakazam sensed it, however, and predicted when it would strike. At the right moment, it set up a Reflect. Lucario slashed at Alakazam as it emerged from the dust cloud, but only connected with the wall of light. Pamela was starting to get frustrated. "Lucario, keep slashing at it! You'll break through eventually!" Lucario kept on launching Metal Claws at the Reflect, hoping to break through. Alakazam continued to focus power to the Reflect, turning into a test of its mental capacity. As Lucario slashed away at the wall, Alakazam continued to focus, testing its mental endurance. Suddenly, Pamela switched up the attack. "Lucario, use Bone Rush now!" A bone made of pure aura energy formed in Lucario's hand and it attempted to club through the Reflect. The sudden change of attacks caught Alakazam unprepared, and thus, the wall was shattered. In surprise, Lucario hesitated. Alakazam was also stunned momentarily, but it recovered quickly and launched a Psychic attack. Lucario grimaced in pain and was flung backwards. Lucario attempted to get back up, but it had spent the last of its energy. It slumped on the ground, unable to continue after a long, hard-fought battle.

"Lucario is unable to battle. Alakazam wins!"

"Good job, Lucario. Return. You deserve a long rest," Pamela said as she called Lucario back. She grimaced after putting Lucario's Poke Ball away. Somehow, Roy had completely turned the tables on her. Most of the battle had been very back-and-forth, but the tide of battle had remained in her favor for the majority of the fight. Once Lapras and Lucario went down, though, the tide of battle had turned in Roy's favor. Pamela just couldn't believe how in sync Roy and Alakazam were. Roy didn't even have to issue commands unless he needed to change things up, and even then, he was communicating telepathically with Alakazam. Alakazam truly had amazing psychic powers. It was down to the final Pokemon for Pamela, who had been working with a lead for the majority of the battle. She took out her last Poke Ball and threw it out. "Leafeon, it's all you!" The ball opened and a tan-colored Pokemon with a green, leaf-like tail and ears that resembles leaves as well burst out. It was a fairly small Pokemon, especially compared to some of the larger ones used earlier, but it looked as though it packed a lot of power.

"Alakazam vs. Leafeon. Begin!"

"We have to strike quickly and decisively, Leafeon! Use Leaf Blade!" Leafeon's tail glowed green and it rushed at Alakazam. Alakazam didn't need a command to know what to do. It put up a Reflect to block the Leaf Blade. Leafeon connected with the wall. Roy squinted and saw that the wall had been dented. He remembered the training he recently gave Alakazam against his Nidoking. Alakazam had been unable to block all of Nidoking's Poison Jabs because of the Sheer Force ability boosting the power of Poison Jab to close to 100. Leafeon's Leaf Blade attack had a base power of 90, ten points more than Nidoking's Poison Jab. Leaf Blade also gained a Same-Type Attack Bonus, being a Grass-type move launched by a Grass-type Pokemon. Roy bit his lower lip as he wondered how much longer Reflect could stay up. Leafeon launched another Leaf Blade right at the Reflect. The Same-Type Attack Bonus boosted the power of Leaf Blade to the point where it could shatter this Alakazam's Reflect. Normally, it would take a Brick Break attack to break a wall like Reflect, but when it concerned mental powers, base power of an attack was a big factor. The Leaf Blade connected with the Reflect and shattered it where the blade slashed it. The shattering of the reflect shot all the power poured into it back into Alakazam's mind. The power overloaded Alakazam's mental capacity and it found itself unable to use its psychic powers.

"Oh no! I wasn't expecting this!" Roy exclaimed.

"Yes! Now, one last move! Leaf Blade again!" Leafeon slashed at Alakazam, who was unable to defend itself and took a direct hit. Alakazam was knocked out.

"Alakazam is unable to battle. Leafeon wins!"

"Nice job, Alakazam. Return," Roy said as he returned Alakazam. He had two Pokemon remaining: his weakened Breloom from earlier and one last Pokemon he hadn't yet used in the tournament. He decided to go with what everyone already knew he had. "Breloom, pinch-hit!" The mushroom-like Pokemon re-entered the battle.

"Breloom vs. Leafeon. Begin!"

"Breloom, don't take any chances! Use Spore!" Breloom scattered spores from the mushroom top on its head. Leafeon held its breath in order to avoid inhaling the spores. Somehow, it succeeded, despite Spore's perfect accuracy. "Darn, didn't bite on the changeup," Roy muttered.

"Use GrassWhistle!" Leafeon whistled like it were blowing on a blade of grass. Breloom felt soothed by the melody and fell asleep.

"Argh, not good..." Roy said.

"Now, use Giga Drain!" Leafeon summoned tendrils of energy that wrapped around Breloom and began sapping its energy. Even though it was sleeping, Breloom writhed in pain as its energy was drained. Pamela grinned and Roy grimaced. There was no way to wake Breloom up and stop the Giga Drain attack at this point. Roy could only hope Breloom would wake up and shake off the Giga Drain. About a minute passed and Breloom finally woke up.

"Quick, use Seed Bomb to get those tendrils off!" Breloom launched seeds straight up into the air and they fell on the tendrils. The tendrils snaked off of Breloom, freeing it."Now use Stone Edge!" Breloom summoned sharp-edged stones to stab at Leafeon.

"Counter with Magical Leaf!" Leafeon fired rainbow-colored leaves to intercept the stones. "Now, Leaf Blade!"

"Knock it back, Breloom!" As Leafeon swung its tail for a Leaf Blade attack, Breloom launched itself at Leafeon, bouncing it away. Leafeon skidded backwards. "Quick, get ready for Focus Punch!" Breloom started focusing energy to its fist as Leafeon recovered from the skid. As Leafeon readied itself again, Breloom suddenly leaped forward, extending its stretchy arms. A powerful punch connected with Leafeon, and it went flying backwards. It rolled a few times, but got back up.

"Giga Drain!" Leafeon summoned the tendrils of energy and launched them at Breloom.

"Block them with Seed Bomb!" Breloom launched seeds at the tendrils, but Leafeon manipulated the tendrils to swat them away. The tendrils then wrapped around Breloom and started sapping its energy again. As the energy was drained, the tendrils brought it back to Leafeon, who used it to heal itself. Eventually, the tendrils retreated, having drained every last bit of energy from Breloom.

"Breloom is unable to battle. Leafeon wins!"

"Breloom, return!" Roy called as he returned Breloom. It had come right down to the wire. Roy was now forced to show his hand. He adjusted his hat and pulled out his last Poke Ball. "Looks like I've sorely underestimated you," he called across the field. "I rarely get forced into a corner like this. Luckily, this is just where my last Pokemon excels. You ready for this?" He threw the Poke Ball. "Kingdra, bottom of the ninth!" The ball opened and a seahorse-like dragon Pokemon emerged from the ball. However, there was something different about this Kingdra. Instead of its normal blue color, it was an off-lavender. This was a Shiny Pokemon. As it emerged from the Poke Ball, sparkles of light circled the dragon.

"Kingdra vs. Leafeon. Begin!"

"Kingdra, Dragon Dance!" Kingdra performed an odd dance and received a boost to Attack and Speed.

"Leafeon, use Energy Ball!" Leafeon shot a ball of natural energy at Kingdra, but the seahorse dragon avoided it thanks to its increased Speed.

"Now, Kingdra, Ice Beam!" From Kingdra's mouth came an icy beam of energy. Leafeon barely avoided it.

"Magical Leaf!" Leafeon scattered rainbow-colored leaves that homed in on Kingdra.

"Shoot them all down with Ice Beam!" With one sure shot, Kingdra eliminated all of the Magical Leaves. "Now, Rain Dance!" Kingdra shot a ball of energy into the sky. Suddenly, the clouds turned dark and sinister, and the heavens opened up, causing a massive downpour. Kingdra suddenly felt a burst of energy as its ability, Swift Swim, kicked in. Kingdra darted around the stadium at mach speed thanks to the major Speed increase. "It's all over now," Roy called. "In the rain, Kingdra is a force to be reckoned with, if not feared. It'll hit you hard every time, and it's nigh-on impossible to hit when its this fast. Ice Beam!" Kingdra stopped abruptly and shot an Ice Beam at Leafeon, who was completely unprepared. It took a direct super-effective hit. Breathing heavily, it turned to face Kingdra again.

"Use Giga Drain!" Leafeon summoned the tendrils of energy and launched them at Kingdra, but the seahorse dragon simply moved too fast for the tendrils to even have a chance of catching it.

"Now, for the finishing blow! This one will be a walk-off home run! Outrage!" Kingdra suddenly went berserk and charged all over the stadium at breakneck pace. Leafeon couldn't keep up with its movements and was caught by surprise when Kingdra rammed into it hard from the side. Leafeon was lifted into the air from the force of the blow. As it fell, Kingdra zeroed in on the projected landing spot and launched one final Outrage. The timing was perfect. Leafeon took a savage hit and was knocked into the wall. After taking such a severe beating, Leafeon had no more energy left to fight.

"Leafeon is unable to battle. Kingdra wins, and the match goes to Roy Ashford!" As the rain died down, the crowd erupted into wild cheering. Both trainers called their Pokemon back.

"A...amazing! Folks, I think we've just witnessed one of the best battles of the tournament! What an astounding match! Both trainers were so evenly matched that the whole battle was up in the air until right at the very end!" the announcer yelled over the roar of the crowd. On the field, Roy breathed a massive sigh of relief. If it hadn't been for him choosing Kingdra as his last team member, he very well could've lost, as Pamela's Leafeon appeared very high-leveled. Even if he had opted to bring Darmanitan to the battle, he still could've lost due to Darmanitan not having nearly as much experience in battle as that Leafeon appeared to have. He saw Pamela walking to the center of the field, so he followed suit. They shook hands at midfield.

"Wow, that was an awesome fight you gave me," Pamela complimented.

"Aw, don't mention it," Roy replied.

"We were so evenly matched! I had no idea you were this good! You're gonna go far, trust me".

"Aw, stop it, you're embarrassing me," Roy laughed.

"So, what's up with the Shiny Kingdra?" Pamela asked.

"Ah, that tale spans many years. Kingdra and I have been together since I was a little kid. Back at home, I always hang out on the rocky ledges by the bay. One day, I saw a little Horsea washed up on the beach. It looked like it had been in a fight with a Chinchou; I could see the marks from a Spark attack. So, I rushed it to the Pokemon Center and Nurse Joy took it in overnight. The next day, Horsea was healthy again. It felt so eternally grateful to me that it asked me to capture it. Nurse Joy gave me a Poke Ball and I caught the Horsea. Now, this Horsea wasn't a normal one. When I first saw it, it struck me as odd because it wasn't blue like other Horsea. Instead, it was sea green with a darker belly. That Horsea I caught is now the Kingdra you saw me use today. We've been through everything. Once, when I was in Kanto on a Pokemon-collecting trip, Team Rocket showed up and tried to steal it. At this point, it was a Seadra. Team Rocket had backed me into a corner and almost had their hands on Seadra when a bolt of electricity shot out of nowhere. In a flash, the Team Rocket members had turned tail. I looked up to see who had saved me and Seadra. It was a boy and his Pikachu. I'll never forget that day. The day I met Champion Red". Pamela was quite surprised.

"You met Red? Oh. My. Arceus. You are so lucky!" Pamela exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess I am lucky. Of course, he wasn't the champion yet at that point in time. But, I'll never forget the day he saved me and Seadra from Team Rocket. I made a promise that I would repay the favor some day. I haven't seen Red since, but I'm going to keep that promise. Kingdra and I owe him a lot," Roy finished.

"Wow, sounds like you and Kingdra have been through a lot," Pamela commented.

"Through thick and thin," Roy replied. "Kingdra and I are inseparable".

"Yeah, you proved that in the battle today. Well, I've gotta get going; gotta get something to eat, haha!"

"Hehe, me too. Thanks for the battle, that was one for the ages. I'll never forget this battle," Roy said and shook Pamela's hand again. Pamela returned the handshake.

"I won't forget it either," she responded. "If you ever want to battle me again, I'll be waiting in Pallet Town". She broke the handshake and turned around, walking out of the stadium. Many young males in the crowd turned their heads to watch her leave, entranced by her figure. Some of more perverted guys only stared at her rear end as it swayed in perfect rhythm making them want to swing along. Roy turned around and walked out of the stadium, tired and hungry after a long battle. As he walked back through the tunnel, the gang seemingly ambushed him. Jasmine and Terra ran right up to Roy and squeezed him tightly. "Whoa whoa whoa, ok, settle down, you're hurting me," Roy said. Jasmine and Terra stopped squeezing him.

"Roy, that was AMAZING," Jasmine exclaimed. "I've seen my fair share of battles as a Gym Leader, but that just blew my mind". She sighed. "I'm so glad I came out here. I'm getting to watch all these awesome battles, plus, I get to be with you, Roy". She smiled, earning a smile from Roy, who put an arm around her. Terra was next to speak.

"I agree with Jasmine, that was an amazing battle," she said. "I just hope I can be as good as you are someday".

"You will, Terra. I know you will. It runs in the family," Roy replied.

"That it does," Terra agreed.

"I think we all echo Jasmine's thoughts on the battle," Damon piped up. He still grimaced at the thought of everyone seeing his natural eyes.

"He's right; we do," Aidan confirmed.

"Yep, that's the truth," Lexi said. Freeze said nothing.

"Well, I'm glad you all enjoyed the battle," Roy replied. "Believe me, I try hard to win, and it gets good results".

"Sure does," Lexi said. "You must be pretty hungry after that. Let's go get something to eat, all of us".

"Good idea," Roy answered. They left the stadium to go find a place to eat. On the way, Freeze approached Roy.

"Your battle just now, it stirred something deep inside me. I used to have a major passion for battling. It died down over the years, but witnessing all of these battles has slowly reawakened my desire to battle. Roy, your battle today just confirmed that. Now I am truly looking forward to fighting you at some point," he said.

"Well, I'm glad my battles could stir you like that," Roy responded. "And don't worry, I, too, look forward to facing you. We'll make it a battle for the history books". Freeze nodded and flashed a small smirk. Roy returned the gesture. As he walked sown the street, a wave of relief washed over him as he had finally gotten the battle over with. After such an epic battle, the feeling of having won felt so welcome. He inhaled deeply as he walked and just let the feeling of victory soak in. It just felt so good. Being surrounded by great friends, his long-lost sister finally reunited with him, and his loved one at his side, everything just felt like he was on top of the world. 'I must be the luckiest man alive,' he thought.

**Author's Note: And that's Chapter 13 done! Whew, that was a long one. Hope you guys enjoyed the battle; I think it may be my best yet (only rivaled by the previous one with Golurk and Zekrom). This chapter introduces yet another user-submitted OC: Pamela Falkowski submitted by unicorn2010. I kind of just randomly picked from the list of OC's and it really worked out; the Pokemon team matched up well with Roy's and I managed to make an epic battle out of it. So, thanks to unicorn2010 for submitting Pamela.**

**Next time, you guessed it, more out-of-battle stuff. Who knows what's in store for the gang next time? Maybe Seishiro will make another appearance. You never know.**

**I'm still running the poll I mentioned in the previous chapter for my latest story idea, and so far, only two people have voted (plus, two of the top three are FF7 characters, so THEY MUST BE CRUSHED *coughcough*) Yeah, in case you didn't know already, I don't really like FF7. But anyways, please vote in the poll.**

**Spot the reference: There is a song reference towards the end of the chapter. The lyrics are not in quotation marks; instead, part of a sentence references the song. I'll give you a hint: it happens as Pamela is leaving the stadium.**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


	17. The Second Round Continues

**Guess what? Psych! I said there would be out-battle stuff in this chapter, but I decided to just forgo that for now. On to the next battle! Also, on a different note, I'm going to start including 'mood music' (which will mostly be themes from video games) when I feel they are appropriate. They will be denoted in parentheses and italicized.**

Chapter 14: The Second Round Continues

_(Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Game Gear) - Gimmick Mountain Zone)_

The streets of Indigo Plateau Battle Hub were lined with people as another day of battles was set to begin. The buzz on the street was that some really powerful trainers were supposed to battle today. As the people went about their business, a few trainers were making their way to the stadium. People got out of their way as they went by just so they could catch a glimpse of who they were. One in particular had caused quite a stir a few days ago with her battle, in which she had used a Golurk to take out her opponent's Zekrom. Hushed whispers of 'Hey, is that her?', 'That's the girl who beat Zekrom!', 'What's her name?', and 'I want her autograph!' could be heard. The girl in question simply ignored them.

"Looks like you're still causing quite a buzz around here, eh, Aidan?" the girl next to her said.

"Sure does, Lexi," Aidan replied.

"I hope I can cause some buzz around here today," Lexi responded. "I can't wait to battle".

"You've been on about it all day, we get it," one of the guys in the group scoffed.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Damon," another guy said. "Let her have some fun".

"Alright, alright, I'm just saying..." Damon said, rolling his eyes. "You don't have to get on my case every time, though, Roy".

"I'm not getting on your case, I'm just saying let her have a little fun," Roy replied.

"Guys, quit the arguing; it's been like this the whole time we've been walking," one of the other girls in the group said. This girl had green hair.

"Yeah, it would be best if we let Lexi focus on the battle, so stop the arguing," the other girl in the group agreed. This girl had light brown hair.

"Wouldn't say we were arguing, but whatever, the point's been made," Roy said. The two girls who had effectively silenced the group, Terra, Roy's sister, and Jasmine, Roy's girlfriend and leader of the Olivine City Gym, just shrugged their shoulders and kept walking. The last guy in the group, Freeze, said nothing, as was his usual reaction to anything. Today was Lexi's second round battle, and she was excited like she always was when it came to battling. The group walked up to the stadium where Lexi was to battle in today and parted ways with her so she could wait in the tunnel. The rest of the group then went into the stands to try and find a seat. The stadium was packed, and the crowd was cheering like mad in anticipation of the battle. It wasn't long after the group had seated themselves that the announcer decided it was time to get the battle started.

_(Mega Man 2 - Title Screen)_

"Ladies and gentlemen, the next battle is about to begin!" the announcer said. The crowd cheered louder as the tunnels began to open. "In the green corner, from Nuvema Town, Lexi Redstone!" The crowd began cheering again as Lexi walked out of the tunnel, her strawberry-blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze. Some of the young males in the crowd were quite impressed with Lexi's looks. "And in the red corner, from Snowpoint City, Dakota Yuka!" Once again, the crowd cheered. From the red tunnel came a girl of about 15 years of age. She stood at 5'5". Her clothing consisted of a black and white striped t-shirt, black jeans, and black hightops. She also wore white stud earrings. Her hair was black and medium-length, reaching just barely past her shoulders. Her eyes were gray and she wore glasses. Up in the stands, Freeze was thinking.

'Snowpoint, eh? Never knew many people in the city, so it's no wonder I don't recognize her at all,' he thought. Down on the field, the referee had walked to the center and was beckoning the trainers. They both walked to the center.

"Trainers, introduce yourselves," the referee commanded. Lexi extended her hand first.

"Lexi Redstone, Nuvema Town. You look like you're gonna give me a good battle. I like that," she said. Dakota then shook Lexi's hand. Lexi was somewhat surprised to feel that Dakota, while not looking like much, was actually fairly strong.

"Dakota Yuka, Snowpoint City. You look like a tough opponent. That's good, 'cuz I'm really looking forward to a great battle," she replied. The trainers then returned to their sides of the field.

"Trainers ready?" the referee called.

"Ready," the both called.

"Select your Pokemon!"

"Gengar, you're on!" Lexi threw out a Poke Ball and a purple ghost with blood red eyes and an evil grin emerged. Gengar chuckled to itself as it prepared for battle.

"Rosa, let's go!" Dakota tossed her Poke Ball and a Roserade emerged. The Bouquet Pokemon crossed its arms in front of its seemingly masked face and awaited an order.

"Gengar vs. Roserade. Begin!"

_(Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth - New Messiah)_

"All right, Gengar, let's start this one off with authority. Use Shadow Ball!" Gengar put its hands close together and formed a shadowy blob of energy, then fired it at Roserade.

"Dodge it, then use Sludge Bomb!" Roserade nimbly jumped out of the way, then lowered one of its arms. From the red rose on the end, a ball of filthy sludge was shot at Gengar.

"Counter that with another Shadow Ball!" Gengar shot another Shadow Ball out and the attack collided with the Sludge Bomb, nullifying it. "Now, try Focus Blast!" Energy began to encircle Gengar as it built up its focus.

"Don't let it get that off! Use Energy Ball!" Roserade shot out a green ball of natural energy from the blue rose on its left hand. However, it shot it too late, as Gengar had just loosed its Focus Blast. A sphere of energy shot out and, on contact with the Energy Ball, exploded. Both attacks were nullified. "Quick, use Magical Leaf!" Roserade scattered rainbow-colored leaves that homed in on Gengar. Lexi just smirked, though.

"Gengar, fade into the shadows!" Gengar suddenly began to fade away, becoming nothing more than a shadow on the ground. The leaves that were homing in on the ghost-type Pokemon just stopped in mid-flight and fell harmlessly to the ground. Gengar moved into a shaded spot where it could hide as long as it kept its eyes closed and its mouth shut. "Now, Shadow Ball!" Roserade looked around as it sensed imminent danger, but failed to notice the attack closing in behind it. The Shadow Ball scored a direct hit to the back. Gengar then moved somewhere else. The area along the wall was shaded enough that Gengar could hide anywhere around the perimeter of the field. Roserade picked itself back up and awaited a command.

"You can't hide forever. Magical Leaf!" Roserade scattered more leaves, but they simply floated to the ground and disappeared. "What? What's going on?"

"Even an attack that homes in on its target will fail if the target isn't in sight," Lexi taunted. "Shadow Ball!" Gengar fired another Shadow Ball from its hiding spot somewhere in the shaded area around the wall.

"Energy Ball to intercept!" Roserade shot out an Energy Ball, but it turned around too late to counter the Shadow Ball. It was hit and the Energy Ball went flying elsewhere. 'Ugh... I've gotta do something, or Rosa is gonna go down...' Dakota thought. 'Magical Leaf isn't working, so I'm just gonna have to guess where Gengar will strike from next'. She closed her eyes and focused. As Gengar passed behind her in the shadow of the wall, a chill went down her spine that alerted her to Gengar's presence. "Energy Ball!" she called out. Roserade fired an Energy Ball right where Dakota was pointing. Everyone in the crown thought she was just firing at the wall, but it connected with something before it hit the wall. Gengar faded back into existence with a mark on it where it was hit by Energy Ball. Dakota silently cheered to herself as her prediction had been spot-on. "All right, now it can't hide from us anymore! Use Magical Leaf!" Roserade scattered leaves that were able to home in on Gengar this time. Since Gengar now could not dodge the leaves, it took the hit. It went largely unfazed, however, due to its partial Poison typing granting it resistance against Grass-type attacks. "Keep up the assault, Roserade! This time, use Energy Ball!" Roserade fired an Energy Ball at Gengar, who didn't even blink as it hit it. "Just keep going, Roserade. You'll get to it eventually!" Energy Balls streamed from Roserade's flowers like a machine gun. Gengar was hammered by the endless stream of Energy Balls, but didn't seen to show any signs of damage.

"Gengar, shrug them off and use Shadow Ball!" Despite being pelted by the Energy Balls, Gengar formed a Shadow Ball in its hands and fired it at Roserade.

"Dodge it!" Roserade attempted to cut off the stream of Energy Balls it was firing so it could dodge the Shadow Ball. It stopped firing and prepared to leap out of the way, but it was too slow. Just as it began to leap, the Shadow Ball connected, knocking Roserade to the ground. It struggled to get back up, but gave out in the end and collapsed.

"Roserade is unable to battle. Gengar wins!"

"Argh... Rosa, return," Dakota called and returned Roserade to its Poke Ball. 'Not good... I'm at quite a disadvantage with the way Lexi just dominated Rosa with her Gengar... There's gotta be a way to turn the tide in my favor...' she thought. She mulled over her five remaining Pokemon and thought about which one would be the best switch-in to a Gengar. Finally, she decided on one and pulled out the Poke Ball. "Hatter, your turn!" She threw the Poke Ball and a Honchkrow burst out. The Big Boss Pokemon was mainly black with maroon feathers on its wings and tail and a tuft of white feathers on its chest. The feathers on its head made it look as if it were wearing a hat.

"Gengar vs. Honchkrow. Begin!"

"Hatter, start with Night Slash!" Honchkrow took flight and darted past Gengar. The Gas Pokemon turned around just in time to see Honchkrow swipe at it with its wings, which had taken on a slightly darker hue. Gengar went flying backwards when Honchkrow's attack connected, taking a very heavy hit due to its weakness to Dark-type attacks and having a paper-thin Defense stat.

"Gengar, don't take that one lying down! Use Thunder!" Electricity began to build up around Gengar's body. Once it coalesced, Gengar shot a wicked bolt of lightning into the sky. The bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds at Honchkrow.

"Dodge it!" In mid-flight, Honchkrow banked right and just narrowly avoided the massive bolt of lightning. "Now, use Ominous Wind!" Honchkrow stopped itself and turned to face Gengar. Beating its wings, it created a gust of purple, chilling wind.

"Focus Blast!" Gengar focused its energy into a sphere and shot it. It easily passed through the wind, but didn't stop it. Gengar took the hit from Ominous Wind while Honchkrow was struck by Focus Blast. Honchkrow recovered fairly quickly and resumed flight, but Gengar was on the ground, all of its energy having clearly been spent.

"Gengar is unable to battle. Honchkrow wins!"

"Gengar, return," Lexi said as she called Gengar back. She pulled out another Poke Ball and tossed it out. "Gallade, let's go!" The ball opened and the Blade Pokemon emerged from the light. It struck a battle stance as it awaited orders.

"Gallade vs. Honchkrow. Begin!"

"Gallade, start with Stone Edge!" Gallade summoned sharp stones to stab at the Big Boss Pokemon. Honchkrow was a little too quick, however, and evaded the stones easily.

"Hatter, Ominous Wind!" Honchkrow beat its wings and blew a chilling gust of purple wind at Gallade.

"Dodge it!" Gallade leaped out of the way as the wind simply hit the ground. "Now, leap up and use Brick Break!" One of Gallade's bladed arms began to glow white. Gallade sprang up into the air and swiped at Honchkrow, but missed as the Big Boss Pokemon simply flew just out of its reach. It beat its wings and fired another Ominous Wind instinctively. Gallade had just reached the ground from its jump and didn't have time to dodge or intercept the attack, so it took the hit. It stood its ground, however. "Ok, then, Stone Edge!" Sharp stones were summoned and Gallade sent them to stab at Honchkrow. One of the stones connected and Honchkrow was knocked out of flight. It recovered in mid-free fall and prepared itself again.

"All right, Hatter, time to unleash all you've got!" Upon hearing this, Honchkrow began to glow, its entire body becoming coated with a bright light. The crowd gasped as they realized that this Honchkrow knew Sky Attack, a move it could only learn through breeding. Lexi bit her lip as she tried to think of a counterattack.

"Try Stone Edge!" Lexi called. Gallade summoned more sharp stones and sent them at the glowing Honchkrow in an attempt to knock it out. Honchkrow chose that exact moment to take off towards Gallade. The Big Boss Pokemon weaved in and out of the incoming stones, deftly avoiding every one of them. Stunned, Gallade was unable to pull off a counterattack as Honchkrow came barreling in. Honchkrow scored a direct hit on Gallade, knocking it all the way back into the wall. Upon hitting the wall, it sounded as if Gallade may have broken a bone. Several members of the crowd cringed as they heard the sound. Gallade was knocked right out by the super-effective Sky Attack.

"Gallade is unable to battle! Honchkrow wins!"

"Yes! Hatter, you're doing great!" Dakota cheered. Honchkrow cawed in response.

"Ack! Gallade, return. I'll have to get you looked at after the battle," Lexi called as she returned Gallade. 'Looks like I'm going to have to switch up the beat. She's got me figured out so far,' she thought. 'Good thing I know how to switch things up'. She pulled out a Poke ball and threw it. "Ninetales, crank up the heat!" The ball opened and a nine-tailed, off-yellow fox emerged. It let out a howl and readied itself.

"Ninetales vs. Honchkrow. Begin!"

"Ninetales, this is gonna be a quick beat. Use Hidden Power!" Orbs of light began encircling Ninetales. It then fired them at Honchkrow.

"Quick, dodge them!" Honchkrow took to the skies and attempted to dodge the orbs of light. A few of the orbs connected, though. When they hit, they crackled with electricity, severely damaging Honchkrow. The Big Boss Pokemon lost flight.

"Now, finish it! Fire Blast!" Ninetales loosed an intense blast of fire at the plummeting bird. The flames engulfed Honchkrow as it smacked into the ground. When the flames died down, Honchkrow was down and out.

"Honchkrow is unable to battle. Ninetales wins!"

"Darn... Return, Honchkrow; you did great," Dakota said as she called Honchkrow back. She pulled out her next Poke Ball quickly. "Torra, your turn!" The ball opened and a Milotic emerged from the light. The graceful sea serpent landed and coiled its tail around itself, hiding its face with the fan on the end of its tail.

"Ninetales vs. Milotic. Begin!"

"Torra, use Surf!" With a flick of its tail, Milotic summoned a giant wave of water and sent it crashing towards Ninetales.

"Quick, Ninetales, use Hidden Power!" Ninetales summoned orbs of light and fired them at Milotic. Ninetales then instinctively jumped. The Hidden Power connected with Milotic and they crackled with electricity. The wave of water just barely missed the leaping Ninetales. "Now, use Energy Ball!" Ninetales opened its maw and shot out an Energy Ball at Milotic.

"Dodge, then use Bulldoze as it lands!" Milotic twisted its body into a spiral and the Energy Ball passed harmlessly through the gap made by Milotic. Just as Ninetales landed, Milotic returned its body to normal and slapped its tail on the ground, causing the earth to shake. Ninetales was hit by the shockwaves and struggled to keep its footing. The shockwaves reduced Ninetales' Speed. "Now it won't be able to escape this! Use Surf again!" Milotic summoned another giant wave and it crashed down onto Ninetales. The fox Pokemon was washed away by the massive wave. Just the impact of the wave had knocked it out.

"Ninetales is unable to battle. Milotic wins!"

"Ninetales, return," Lexi said as she called Ninetales back. She pulled out another Poke Ball and threw it. "Gladiator, time to fight!" The ball burst open and an Electivire emerged. The Thunderbolt Pokemon began sparking as it faced down Milotic.

"Electivire vs. Milotic. Begin!"

"Gladiator, use ThunderPunch!" Electivire electrified its fist and charged at Milotic.

"Bulldoze!" Milotic slapped the ground with its tail, sending out shockwaves.

"Jump!" Just as a shockwave approached, Electivire leaped into the air, just barely clearing the shockwaves. It then continued towards Milotic. Once in range, it swung its fist and scored a solid hit. Milotic was flung backwards by the attack. It slithered back into position and awaited a command.

"Scald!" Milotic opened its mouth and shot a stream of boiling hot water at Electivire. Electivire was knocked back by the attack.

"ThunderPunch again!" Electivire recovered quickly and launched another electric punch attack. Milotic barely dodged this one. "Press the offensive! Use Earthquake!" Just as Electivire recovered from the miss, it loosed an earthquake, sending powerful shockwaves through the ground. Milotic, who was using its tail to prop itself up after dodging ThunderPunch, was knocked over. "Now, Cross Chop!" Electivire leaped at the fallen Milotic and brought its arms down in an X shape. It scored a direct hit, leaving a mark on Milotic's body. Milotic managed to get back up and assumed a battle position.

"Ice Beam!" Dakota called. Milotic fired an icy beam of energy from its mouth. Electivire wasn't prepared and was knocked to the ground. Picking itself back up, it glared at Milotic with the intent to pummel it.

"ThunderPunch!" Electivire electrified its fist and dashed at Milotic. Fueled by the desire to knock Milotic out, it seemingly moved twice as fast. Milotic was caught unprepared and received a crushing blow. Electivire followed that up with another ThunderPunch for good measure. It then gave the fallen Milotic a look that seemed to imply 'That's what you get for knocking me down'.

"Milotic is unable to battle. Electivire wins!"

"Return, Torra," Dakota called. She held out the Poke Ball and returned Milotic to it. The remaining Pokemon count now stood at a tie, with each side having three Pokemon remaining. Dakota pulled out another Poke Ball and threw it out. "Scarlett, take 'em out!" A Scizor emerged from the ball. It crossed its pincers and prepared for battle.

"Electivire vs. Scizor. Begin!"

"Scarlett, lead off with Bullet Punch!" Scizor took off, appearing as a red blur to onlookers. Electivire then received a fist to the face. It shrugged the hit off due to the Electric-type having a natural resistance to Steel-type attacks, but it glared at Scizor, intending to take it down.

"Gladiator, give it a Fire Punch!" Electivire's fist caught on fire and it rushed at Scizor.

"Dodge it, quick!" Scizor used its natural agility to dodge the Fire Punch. "Now, X-Scissor!" Scizor brought its pincers down in an X shape as Electivire recovered from the miss, scoring a direct hit. Electivire was flung backwards. It picked itself up off of the ground and wiped some dust from its face.

"Give it a Fire Punch!" Electivire's fist ignited and it charged at Scizor.

"Brick Break!" One of Scizor's pincers glowed white and it dashed at the oncoming Electivire. At the last moment, Electivire instinctively faked out. Scizor's eyes widened in surprise. It turned around just in time to see Electivire nail it in the face with a Fire Punch. Scizor took an extremely heave blow from the super-effective attack, having a major weakness to Fire-type attacks thanks to its dual typing of Bug and Steel. Luckily, its solid Defense stat allowed it to survive the hit. "Quick, Bullet Punch!" Scizor picked itself up and sped towards Electivire like a blur. Electivire took a punch right in the chest and it had the wind knocked out of it. Scizor leaped back to prepare for another strike. Electivire began breathing heavily in an attempt to catch its breath. "X-Scissor!" came the command from Dakota. Scizor rushed up to the reeling Electivire and sliced at it in an X shape with its pincers.

"Counter it with Cross Chop!" Lexi ordered. Electivire barely managed to raise its arms in time. It brought them down in an X shape to counteract Scizor's X-Scissor. The attacks connected with each other and a stalemate resulted. Both Pokemon pushed themselves as they tried to break the other one's attacks. For the next minute or two, neither Pokemon budged an inch as they were so tightly locked in combat.

"The Pokemon are locked in a stalemate!" the announcer exclaimed. "Neither Pokemon is giving up an inch of ground. Looks like we're in for an epic tail end of the battle!" On the field, the trainers were thinking of ways to possible gain the upper hand. They only ended up drawing blanks, though, as every move they could think of would concede ground to the opponent. Suddenly, an idea popped into Lexi's head. "Electivire, ignite your fists!" she called. Flames started to appear on Electivire's fists as it concentrated energy there. As the flames intensified. Scizor was forced to break off the attack and back off to avoid getting singed. "Now, Gladiator, attack!" With its fists still on fire, Electivire charged at Scizor. Scizor prepared a Brick Break to parry the attack. Electivire closed in and swung at Scizor, Scizor threw a punch to counter Electivire, but Electivire's instincts kicked in and it faked out. Scizor was prepared this time, though, and it moved to the side to dodge Electivire's Fire Punch. It then punched Electivire with Brick Break. Electivire skidded backwards. Both Electivire and Scizor were breathing heavily after that exchange. It looked like this one was going to right down to the wire. The trainers went to issue one last order.

"Gladiator, Fire Punch!" Lexi called.

"Scarlett, X-Scissor!" Dakota ordered. The Pokemon took off like speeding bullets towards each other and struck, Electivire's Fire Punch slamming Scizor in the face and Scizor's X-Scissor scoring a clean hit on Electivire's torso. Both Pokemon went flying backwards and hit the ground. Neither Pokemon made any effort to get back up, as they were completely exhausted from the battle.

"Both Electivire and Scizor are unable to battle! It's a double knockout!" The referee raised both flags to signal the double KO. The trainers then called their Pokemon back, congratulating them on a job well done. They then selected their next Pokemon to do battle.

"Yume, go!" Dakota called as she threw out her Poke Ball. The ball opened and out from the light emerged a Gardevoir. The Embrace Pokemon gracefully twirled as it got ready to battle.

"Scrafty, go get 'em!" Lexi called. She tossed out her Poke Ball and an orange lizard-like creature with a red mohawk burst out. It simply stared at Gardevoir as the referee signaled for the battle to start.

"Scrafty vs. Gardevoir. Begin!"

"Yume, let's do the smart thing and cripple it! Will-o-wisp!" Using its psychic powers, Gardevoir shot out bluish-white flames.

"Dodge and them use Faint Attack!" Scrafty rolled to the side to avoid the flames, then ran up to Gardevoir. It seemingly faded out of existence, leaving Gardevoir looking for it. At just the right moment, Scrafty faded back in to existence and threw a punch at Gardevoir, scoring a direct hit.

"Quick, while it's close, Will-o-wisp!" Gardevoir recovered quickly and shot out another bluish-white flame at Scrafty. This time, Scrafty couldn't dodge and it was scorched by the intense flame. Scrafty constantly blew on the burn marks caused by the Will-o-wisp. "Ha, burned it!" Dakota said. "Now, Magical Leaf!" Gardevoir scattered leaves and they homed in on Scrafty, who was too busy blowing at the burn marks to notice. The leaves sliced at Scrafty, further injuring it.

"Scrafty, use Headbutt!" The Hoodlum Pokemon lowered its head and rammed into Gardevoir. Gardevoir's eyes widened in surprise as it was hit, but the attack didn't do as much damage as it could have because of the burn Scrafty was suffering from. Not only was Scrafty taking damage from the burn, its Attack stat had been chopped in half.

"Yume, use Shadow Ball!" A dark blob of energy appeared before Gardevoir and it shot it at Scrafty, who had just touched the ground after the Headbutt attack. While the attack wouldn't do much damage, it still connected solidly and sent Scrafty back a ways.

"Get stuck back in, Scrafty! Use Brick Break!" Scrafty's right hand glowed white and it launched itself at Gardevoir.

"Intercept it with Magical Leaf!" Gardevoir scattered leaves and fired them at the incoming Scrafty. Scrafty tried using Brick Break to swat away the leaves, but there were too many to simply swat away, and it took a harsh blow. Scrafty got back up, but now it didn't look the slightest bit interested in fighting.

"Try Faint attack, Scrafty!" Lexi called, but Scrafty didn't respond.

"What's going on here?" the announcer wondered. "Scrafty appears to be ignoring its trainer!"

"Oh don't tell me he's going lazy on me again..." Lexi groaned. Her Scrafty was quite lazy and often didn't want to battle. It knew which way this battle was going, and despite having a type advantage over Gardevoir, it had decided to just not care anymore. "Scrafty! I said use Faint Attack!" Still nothing from Scrafty. "Oh my Arceus, Scrafty, I swear, if you don't listen to me right now, I'm gonna slap you silly". Scrafty didn't even pretend to hear. Instead, it simply took a pair of orange headphones from around its neck, which, surprisingly, hadn't broken in the heat of battle, and put them on, tuning out the world. Lexi just facepalmed and shook her head. The referee ran over.

"Scrafty refuses to battle. Gardevoir wins by default!"

"Ugh... Return, Scrafty..." Lexi said, thoroughly disappointed. Scrafty was the only one of her Pokemon who would do this. It's not that it wouldn't listen to Lexi, it was that Scrafty was just extraordinarily lazy. Lexi sighed and pulled out her final Poke Ball. 'Good thing I decided to bring this bad boy along,' she thought. She put on a very serious look as she threw out her last Poke Ball. "Volcarona, burn' em up!" The ball opened and a large moth-like Pokemon with orange and red wings that looked like flower petals. As it flapped its wings, embers scattered from them. The crowd gasped at the sight; Volcarona was a very rare Pokemon.

"Volcarona vs. Gardevoir. Begin!"

"Volcarona, use Bug Buzz!" The Sun Pokemon emitted a horrible sound wave. Several members of the crowd covered their ears to avoid becoming deaf. On the field, Gardevoir was holding its ears as it couldn't bear the sound. "Now, Flamethrower!" The sound died down and Volcarona shot a jet of fire at Gardevoir. Having barely recovered from the Bug Buzz, Gardevoir took a direct hit and was roasted by the flames. Gardevoir collapsed, unable to continue.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle! Volcarona wins!"

"Oh no! Yume, return!" Dakota called as she returned Gardevoir to its Poke Ball. It was down to her last Pokemon, and she wasn't sure if it could beat Volcarona. 'Well, only one way to find out,' she thought. "Storm, you're the last hope!" The ball burst open and a Froslass emerged from the light. The icy ghost Pokemon brought a chilling wind with it as it entered the arena.

"Volcarona vs. Froslass. Begin!"

_(Final Fantasy VI - The Decisive Battle)_

"Storm, get off a Shadow Ball, quickly!" A dark blob formed in Froslass' hands and it shot it at Volcarona.

"Flamethrower!" Volcarona let loose a jet of flame to counter the Shadow Ball. The attacks exploded and kicked up a dust cloud. Volcarona simply flapped its wings and scattered embers to burn away the dust. The air around Volcarona shimmered as it scattered embers. The dust settled and the battle was back on.

"Storm, Water Pulse!" Dakota called. Froslass loosed a pulsing blast of water, which would be super-effective against Volcarona if it hit.

"Use Hurricane to suck up the water!" Volcarona's wings beat harder and faster, whipping up gale-force winds. The Water Pulse was sucked up into the circling, howling winds and was nullified. "Now, Flamethrower!" A jet of flame was loosed from Volcarona's maw.

"Storm! Use Blizzard to cool it off!" Froslass summoned a howling blizzard as a counterattack. The flames began to die down from the intensity of the snowstorm. "Now, use Ice Beam!" Froslass fired an icy beam of energy at Volcarona. The Sun Pokemon simply took the hit as if it were nothing, though, due to its partial Fire typing granting it natural resistance to Ice-type attacks and its solid Special Defense reducing the damage further. Froslass pressed the offensive, though. "Water Pulse!" came the command. A pulsing blast of water closed in on Volcarona and it was hit. Volcarona recovered, though, and regained flight after the hit.

"All right, no more messing around. Time to show 'em how we do it, Volcarona! Use Quiver Dance!" Volcarona began performing a mystical dance. The crowd gaped in awe of this performance. Such a destructive Pokemon performing such a beautiful dance only served to wow them even more. Volcarona finished dancing, It had received boosts to its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Dakota, though impressed by the dance, decided now was the time to take action.

"Dancing around isn't going to get you anywhere. Storm, Water Pulse!" Froslass fired a pulsing blast of water at Volcarona.

"Flamethrower!" Volcarona shot a jet of fire at the incoming water pulse. The flames were more intense this time around, and the heat from the flames simply evaporated the water. "Now, use Bug Buzz!" Upon hearing this, everyone covered their ears in fear that they would go deaf if they didn't. Sure enough, a horrible sound echoed throughout the stadium. Everyone held their hands over their ears, including Froslass down on the field. "All right, time to finish it! Flamethrower!" Volcarona loosed one last jet of flame from its maw. Unable to recover in time from the Bug Buzz, Froslass took a direct hit and was cooked to perfection. It blinked a few timed, then keeled over and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"Froslass is unable to battle. The winner is Volcarona, and the match goes to Lexi Redstone!"

_(Final Fantasy IV - Victory Fanfare)_

"No! I was so close!" Dakota moaned. The crowd erupted into cheering as the trainers called their Pokemon back.

"What a stunner, folks! Nobody expected Lexi to be packing a Volcarona in that team of hers," the announcer exclaimed over the roar of the crowd. The trainers them made their way to the center of the field. Lexi extended her hand.

"Hey, that was an excellent battle, Dakota!" she complimented her opponent. Dakota shook Lexi's hand.

"Yeah, I'll admit, that was a good battle. I'm disappointed that I lost, but at least it wasn't by some sort of fluke," she replied.

"Yeah, that wouldn't have been fair if I won by a fluke," Lexi agreed. "I'm kinda glad I brought Volcarona with me, 'cuz I think you might have beaten me if I had chosen any of my other Pokemon for this battle, haha!" Dakota chuckled a little in response.

"I was quite surprised when you sent out Volcarona," she commented. "Volcarona is a pretty rare Pokemon, and its powerful, too. I kinda wish I had a Pokemon like that".

"Well, keep pressing on with that in mind, and who knows. You could meet something stronger than my Volcarona someday!"

"Yeah, you're right. I should do that. Well, anyways, I enjoyed the battle. I have to get going now so I can do a few things". Dakota turned to go, but stopped mid-turn. "Oh, I forgot to mention, at the end of the second round, I hear Lance is going to throw a little party for the tournament participants. I think it sounds like fun".

"Ooh, yeah, that does sound like fun! Now you've got me excited for it, haha!"

"Hehe, I tend to do that. Well, see you around, Lexi!" Dakota turned and left the stadium via the red tunnel. Lexi then turned and left via the green tunnel. Some of the young men in the crown wolf-whistled as she walked towards the tunnel, but she paid them no attention. 'Bunch of desperate good-for-nothings,' she thought. As she emerged inside the stadium lobby, she found the gang waiting for her. She was instantly mobbed by Terra, Jasmine, and Aidan.

"Lexi, you didn't tell me you had a Volcarona!" Aidan said.

"That was really impressive," Terra piped up. "Quite an inspiring performance. And that dance your Volcarona did... it was beautiful!"

"I echo their thoughts," Jasmine said.

"Calm down, calm down, you're starting to overwhelm me a bit," Lexi responded.

"Give her a bit of room," Damon said. The girls settled down and backed off, giving Lexi some breathing room.

"Ok, now instead of waiting around this time, why don't we start heading back to the hotel and let Lexi answer you on the way?" Roy suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Aidan replied. The gang walked out of the stadium with Lexi being pestered by Terra and Aidan with questions such as "How did you find that Volcarona?" and "Just how lucky were you to find it?". As the gang left, someone moved from out of the shadows. He looked at the gang and adjusted his glasses.

"It seems the competition is heating up," he said. "That girl there has a Volcarona. They're supposed to be exceedingly rare. Hmm... I'm starting to think I might actually enjoy this little tournament". He adjusted his glasses again and stepped fully out of the shadows, his trench coat wrapped around him. Seishiro started in the opposite direction, occasionally looking back at the gang. "This little group has caught my interest," he said to himself. "It's time to put them to the test..."

**Author's Note: And that's that for this chapter! I know I said I was gonna do an out-of-battle scene, but I decided to save that for another time and advance the plot this way. So, Lexi's ultimate Pokemon has been revealed: it's a Volcarona! We also learn that Lance is supposed to throw a little party for the tournament participants soon. Not much else goes on here, but what's up with the mysterious Seishiro at the end? What does he mean by "put them to the test"? Well, you'll have to stay tuned to find out!**

**I don't really have much else to say, actually. Please keep reviewing and sending in OC's, and don't forget to vote in the poll I have going on my profile. I'd also appreciate some feedback on the 'mood music' thing I added for this chapter. Let me know of you liked it or not.**

**Also, the answer to my spot-the-song-reference from the previous chapter is: Honky Tonk Badonkadonk by Trace Adkins. (I know, it's a country song, so I'm gonna get shot for referencing it. My mom listens to a lot of country and she got me into Trace Adkins' music, so STFU.) The lyrics referenced were "keeping perfect rhythm, makes you want to swing along", though they were paraphrased.**

**Until next time, MasterFreezeman, signing out.**


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